Mr. Underhill wrote:

Joselillo3 wrote:

So amazon.de pushed delivery date for boxset #3 to july (+1 month)...

It happens, they seem to always be overly ambitious with their early release estimates.

Yeah this brings the box back in line (or at least closer) with earlier date estimates, the perceived delay on this is just that, a perception.

Amazon are always playing around with the dates, as we will all now see with the excellent 'date bot'

If anyone has already purchased both the first box set and the new hardcover Silmarillion, can you tell if the book dimensions are roughly the same? The new cover looks so pretty, but I felt I couldn't justify yet another copy of it for just the cover alone. But if the dimensions allow, it occurs to me I could use the HoME box set as an excuse to get it, and then swap out the two editions. If not, at least I can save the money for something else, as I'll probably just skip the first box altogether since I was a little disappointed that space is used up for two books that aren't really part of HoME (and which most anyone looking to collect HoME probably already has—but I suppose HarperCollins liked the idea of selling four boxes instead of three).

Bibliomancer wrote:

If anyone has already purchased both the first box set and the new hardcover Silmarillion, can you tell if the book dimensions are roughly the same? The new cover looks so pretty, but I felt I couldn't justify yet another copy of it for just the cover alone. But if the dimensions allow, it occurs to me I could use the HoME box set as an excuse to get it, and then swap out the two editions. If not, at least I can save the money for something else, as I'll probably just skip the first box altogether since I was a little disappointed that space is used up for two books that aren't really part of HoME (and which most anyone looking to collect HoME probably already has—but I suppose HarperCollins liked the idea of selling four boxes instead of three).

Everyone has their own tastes to be sure, especially when it comes to whether we are going to buy duplicate copies of works we already own and use finite budget resources and shelf space. In my mind, there are two benefits to including S/UT in the first boxset: 1) aesthetically - to have the matching dust jackets, and 2) reference functionality, as the text in S/UT have been reset so that the pages align with the citations in the HoMe volumes. Thus, these two volumes will become, for me, the go-to reference volumes when I am reading through HoMe.

Hike it’s great that ‘reference copies’ of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are provided, what about some other books in HoM-e Chris mentions and references by page number? Namely, the biography. (Whenever he references Letters, I believe it’s by Letter # vs page #)

Ooh I'd forgotten about the reset text. That could actually be nice to have. And I can certainly understand wanting to have an extra book or two with John Howe's artwork. Still curious about the dimensions if anyone happens to know. All of the retailer descriptions for the box set seem to be giving dimensions for the box and not the books therein.

Tuor son of Huor wrote:

Bibliomancer wrote:

If anyone has already purchased both the first box set and the new hardcover Silmarillion, can you tell if the book dimensions are roughly the same? The new cover looks so pretty, but I felt I couldn't justify yet another copy of it for just the cover alone. But if the dimensions allow, it occurs to me I could use the HoME box set as an excuse to get it, and then swap out the two editions. If not, at least I can save the money for something else, as I'll probably just skip the first box altogether since I was a little disappointed that space is used up for two books that aren't really part of HoME (and which most anyone looking to collect HoME probably already has—but I suppose HarperCollins liked the idea of selling four boxes instead of three).

Everyone has their own tastes to be sure, especially when it comes to whether we are going to buy duplicate copies of works we already own and use finite budget resources and shelf space. In my mind, there are two benefits to including S/UT in the first boxset: 1) aesthetically - to have the matching dust jackets, and 2) reference functionality, as the text in S/UT have been reset so that the pages align with the citations in the HoMe volumes. Thus, these two volumes will become, for me, the go-to reference volumes when I am reading through HoMe.

It was the new referencing that sold me on my these books. I research different things a lot and this decreases the difficulty substantially.

Bibliomancer wrote:

Ooh I'd forgotten about the reset text. That could actually be nice to have. And I can certainly understand wanting to have an extra book or two with John Howe's artwork. Still curious about the dimensions if anyone happens to know. All of the retailer descriptions for the box set seem to be giving dimensions for the box and not the books therein.

The Illustrated version of The Silmarillion (ISBN: 9780008433949) is quite a bit thicker/wider than the non-illustrated version with reset text that was included in the first boxset.
Likewise the Illustrated version of Unfinished Tales (ISBN: 9780008387952) is thicker/wider than the non-illustrated version with reset text that was included in the first boxset.

Edit: The illustrated versions are probably about half an inch thicker.

Velmeran wrote:

The Illustrated version of The Silmarillion (ISBN: 9780008433949) is quite a bit thicker/wider than the non-illustrated version with reset text that was included in the first boxset.
Likewise the Illustrated version of Unfinished Tales (ISBN: 9780008387952) is thicker/wider than the non-illustrated version with reset text that was included in the first boxset.

Edit: The illustrated versions are probably about half an inch thicker.

Ah, my apologies, I should have clarified I was thinking of the new new Silmarillion (ISBN: 9780008669140). I would be a little surprised if the new illustrated editions would fit at all well in the HoME box haha.

The new new Silmarillion is notably smaller than the books in the HoME box.

Oh yes it should be stated: all the unjacketed hardbacks (The Hobbit, LotR as 3 parts and The Silmarillion) are shorter than a ‘usual’ HarperCollins Tolkien hardcover. (I say usual as roughly 95% of them have the same height: there are exceptions like the Tolkien Treasury set, Jemima Catlin Hobbit, Mr Bliss (2011) and Letters From Father Christmas centenary)