BillThePony wrote:

Excellent collection LF! I enjoyed your appearance on YT showcasing your books. It was like looking in a mirror in many ways. Both of our collections are cut from the same yard of cloth, so to speak.

Thank you!

BillThePony wrote:

I was hoping you'd chime in on the green spine 5th impression variation. Adds a little spice to setting a run of Lion covers.

it is curious with the lettering color variation…I never had given it much thought. I still wonder if ink fading plays some part. Regardless, it is interesting to try to map out where things change between printings.

If that were the case then that would be evident across the entire printed range right? I.e; There would be blue Hobbit spines from 1st throughout 4th impression right?

If that's true then we should all have some. I don't. If anyone does have a blue ink Hobbit spine that's a 1st-4th I'd really really like to trade with that person, just because I've never seen one.

November 65 is 4th print, December 65 is 5th and Jan 66 is 1st revised.

So here's another question that my brain won't let me go without asking.

Are green ink 5th impression Hobbits the rarest of the Ballantine Lion Covers?

I have 5 1st impressions but I only 2 green 5ths out of 11 total 5ths. I would've said previously that 2nd impressions seem to be the hardest to get but now I'm not too sure. Maybe it is this variant.

I'm throwing off the sun fade theory for that spine. Between yours and mine I think that disproves it. The color uniformity is too strong to ignore and that they're a spot on match for 4th impression spines.

5a>1????


I do hope others respond too.

I was chatting with Mr. Underhill about that very issue with not seeing blue spines on any of my 1st printings. You would think with the number of copies I have one might expect a few.

But perhaps a different ink formulation could have been used on those early Lion Hobbits that might have ultimately been fade resistant.

Also heat and aging can sometimes affect inks so maybe that is a factor here…allowing perhaps a uniform fade to occur.

(Just tossing around some possibilities.)

BillThePony wrote:

Are green ink 5th impression Hobbits the rarest of the Ballantine Lion Covers?

I have 5 1st impressions but I only 2 green 5ths out of 11 total 5ths. I would've said previously that 2nd impressions seem to be the hardest to get but now I'm not too sure. Maybe it is this variant.

Really depends on how many copies were produced and survive. Wayne Hammond’s Tolkien Bibliography indicates that the number of copies printed are unknown for the Ballantine initial 1965 and the revised 1966 1st printing Hobbits. So who knows how common or rare any printing is.

(So a “what if” scenario: say a boatload of 5ths were printed and maybe 1 in 5 have green spines, that still could be more copies than if a very small number of 3rd printings were made.)

It seems from what you wrote that the variation of colours it's not systematic but rather casual in some printings? I'll put your data on the table, and I'll add that question on the survey, and I'll reach back to those that already took it to see if we can gather more infos.