Pablo wrote:

Hi all, does anyone know if HC/WM has plans to release matching versions for The Hobbit and The Silmarillion? I mean illustrated by AL and with the same spine/box aesthetics etc?

There have been no announcements but if the book sells well then I expect to see The Hobbit illustrated by Alan Lee, and possibly The Silmarillion illustrated by Ted Nasmith, but this is largely down to how the current book sells.

My HC set arrived last week. DHL seemed to try and destroy shipping box; book box safe.

Finally got my set, brought by the in-laws and I'm pleased to say that it doesn't have anything I'd classify as a fault (that I can see). First deluxe edition in a long while that I can say that about (including my last two FS super expensive editions).

I will say that the description of the spine as being "leather" is really just not true. It very obviously isn't leather - it is cloth with a nanometer or two of elastomeric coating painted on. Are there any animal products mixed into it? Maybe, but it isn't leather and HarperCollins really shouldn't be marketing it as such. I'd really love some better regulations to control the use of the word "leather" to stop these shenanigans.

Nice books, but I do wonder if the spines will peel as they age. Worth the £125 paid and not a penny more.

The late Stu wrote:

I will say that the description of the spine as being "leather" is really just not true. It very obviously isn't leather - it is cloth with a nanometer or two of elastomeric coating painted on. Are there any animal products mixed into it? Maybe, but it isn't leather and HarperCollins really shouldn't be marketing it as such. I'd really love some better regulations to control the use of the word "leather" to stop these shenanigans.

I couldn't agree more. I had my doubts about the spine material based on pictures I had seen, but upon arrival I was quite disappointed to find my doubts realized. It was in large part due to the non-leather spines that I decided to get rid of this set shortly after receiving it.

ǽc ælf wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

I will say that the description of the spine as being "leather" is really just not true. It very obviously isn't leather - it is cloth with a nanometer or two of elastomeric coating painted on. Are there any animal products mixed into it? Maybe, but it isn't leather and HarperCollins really shouldn't be marketing it as such. I'd really love some better regulations to control the use of the word "leather" to stop these shenanigans.

I couldn't agree more. I had my doubts about the spine material based on pictures I had seen, but upon arrival I was quite disappointed to find my doubts realized. It was in large part due to the non-leather spines that I decided to get rid of this set shortly after receiving it.

Indeed. I had thought it would be less obvious in real life than in the pictures, but I actually found it to be a little more obvious than expected. On the plus side, it makes me a little more accepting of the deficiencies with the Folio binding!!

While I also find it rather disingenuous to market this edition as quarter leather, I am honestly more pleased with whatever this material is than the incredibly flimsy and low quality leather used on the spines of the recent deluxe Illustrated by the author editions. I expect this blue cloth-like "leather" will hold up better than those. And I think the cloth on the boards is also higher quality than the black cloth on the Illustrated by the author boards.

Menelmacar wrote:

While I also find it rather disingenuous to market this edition as quarter leather, I am honestly more pleased with whatever this material is than the incredibly flimsy and low quality leather used on the spines of the recent deluxe Illustrated by the author editions. I expect this blue cloth-like "leather" will hold up better than those. And I think the cloth on the boards is also higher quality than the black cloth on the Illustrated by the author boards.

Yeah, I don't like the Author Illustrated editions at all (but that's a personal taste thing, both in terms of content and design). I'd really rather see a quality buckram being used for the quarter part of a quarter-binding. GA&U used buckram perfectly acceptably from '69 through to about '89 and it looks leather-like but is genuinely a high-quality and durable product. That said, the buckram used on the 1963 deluxe hasn't generally held up terribly well to use, so all materials can have their problems. I agree with you that the cloth (which appears to be rayon) seems a little better on this LotR than the AI editions. I certainly prefer the colour choice - I didn't really like the combination of black cloth and bright coloured "leather".