Lord of the Rings Boxed Sets [TolkienBooks article]

I would like to know more about are the early paperback/slipcase editions (Ballantine? others?) that are out there. The first editions are ridiculously expensive. But these are still very reasonalby priced, interesting to own, and one can still find them in excellent condition (even the slipcases if you're lucky!) Any compilations/sources of info on these? Thanks!

Deagol wrote:
I have recently been doing some research on early boxed sets of The Lord of the Rings. The fruits of my labours can be read here:

http://www.tolkienbooks.net/html/1st-boxed-lr.htm

If you own a pre-1965 Allen & Unwin LotR boxed set I would be interested to know if it matches the details I have listed in the article - especially the material used to cover the box, the type of construction (stapled or not) and which impression of each book it contains.

Deagol! You did it again... this must have been a lot of work. Thanks SO MUCH for making this article. It is wonderfull information. Will go an check at home to see if my box sets match all you info.

Once again, thanks for this article!

That truly is an awesome piece of bibliographical research, Deagol! I haven't seen an early boxed set recently, and don't have one on hand at the moment, but will pass on details of all future sets I see.

Parmastahir - I am working on a US paperback article for the site which should help you out. I have had fun in the past year or so looking for new/sealed boxed sets going back as far as the gold sigil set - haven't run across any BREM sets still in original shrinkwrap, but you never know! I doubt I'll find a green box still wrapped, though.

Deagol - I'd be interested to know if you have ever run across any early GA&U correspondence (while Tolkien was still alive) about The Silmarillion being planned in multiple volumes, as Clyde Kilby and others state in various correspondence from the late '60s.

Jeremy

The research involved going through over 5000 letters in the archive - not all Tolkien related, but still lots of reading and note-taking! I have covered the period 1957-64, but still need to cover 1952-56 to get the complete story - another 4000 letters. In the meantime I am about to start work on an article on the1964 Deluxe Edition. I have all the info for this, so it should be a faitly simple process. There was some correspondence between Rayner Unwin and Pauline Baynes regarding the artwork for the slipcase, which is interesting once you decipher PBs handwriting!

I haven't seen a great deal of correspondence regarding The Silmarillion, but that isn't surprising, as most of the time I have been dealing with letters to and from printers. The few mentions I have seen so far just say that Tolkien was working on it and maybe it would be ready "next year". There is some correspondence with Clyde Kilby, Dick Plotz, Ed Meskys, etc from 1966-68 that may well cover The Silmarillion. I remember from somewhere in the History of Middle-earth series that Tolkien had a grand plan for the Silmarillion that, if he had completed it, would have amounted to more than one volume, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had shown this to Clyde Kilby.

Will let you know if I find any more detailed info.

I remember from somewhere in the History of Middle-earth series that Tolkien had a grand plan for the Silmarillion that, if he had completed it, would have amounted to more than one volume, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had shown this to Clyde Kilby.

There is an article by Charles Noad in Tolkien's Legendarium (ISBN 0313305307) that tries to reconstruct Tolkien's intentions for The Silmarillion using details given on title pages of the various manuscripts described in The History of Middle-earth series . This is what he came up with:

Quenta Silmarillion

Concerning the Powers
Ainulindale
Valaquenta

The Great Tales
The Lay of Leithian
Narn i Chin Hurin
The Fall of Gondolin
Earendil the Wanderer

The Later Tales
Akallabeth
Of the Rings of Power

Appendices
The Tale of Years
Of the Laws and Customs among the Eldar
Dangweth Pengolod
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
Quendi and Eldar