Stu wrote:

JLangh wrote:
Very cool! I didn't know there was a Billing second impression! I thought Billings was considered the "second impression" after the Export then went back again to Clowes and Sons for the Domestic 2nd. Sadly no, Tolkienbooks.net has plenty of great info but none of the textual inconsistencies! I thought to myself, "well I can't expect them to do all the work for me can I?" ... 6 hours of googling later I was posting on here as well as purchasing The Descriptive Bibliography by Hammond

You want to be using the word "state", not "impression". Both Clowes and Billings have multiple states of the first impression, but these states are all first impressions. There are, of course, also later impressions.

Gotcha, good to know! Multiple impressions, with multiple states

Hi, I am taking up this thread beacuse I have a question related to this topic: I just received an Export paper binding, being it the second variant according to http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details2.php?id=725 I thought that it would have had the corrected full stop after Feanor and the non italicized "and", but I found out that it has the corrected "and" with the still missing full stop after Feanor as in the Export cloth variant, so I asked myself if paper binding exports have also different states, does a second variant export with the 2 errors corrected (like in the domestic billing first state) exist or not ? Thanks in advance.

P.S. Does indeed a cloth BCA exist ? may I ask what are the main reasons to think so ?

The error/correction combination you've just described as "I found out that it has the corrected "and" with the still missing full stop after Feanor as in the Export cloth variant" is (unless I'm reading you incorrectly) the "minor textual differences" that Neil mentions. It's the second (known) textual state. There are, of course, paper-covered binding variants with first state text too.

But, if you are asking whether Clowes corrected both of these and bound these as first impression (copyright page) copies, then the answer is: not that I've seen. They did, of course, correct both in the/their (marked) second impression.

Are there any cloth-bound BCA copies? is a good question. Never found any, but it wouldn't be particularly surprising if there were binding variants like that out there.

Hi, i found this (

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JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion 1977 1st UK Export Editon, 1st Printing

176816546674

Seller: kngfsh64

(222)

Ended Feb 18, 2025

Buy-It-Now:

C $125.82

to be very first export impression) but the edge is not dyed blue. Is it possible its still very first impression?

valarian wrote:

Hi, i found this (

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion 1977 1st UK Export Editon, 1st Printing

176816546674

Seller: kngfsh64

(222)

Ended Feb 18, 2025

Buy-It-Now:

C $125.82

to be very first export impression) but the edge is not dyed blue. Is it possible its still very first impression?

Yes, both states have been observed. I wouldn't get too obsessed by primacy, personally. There are literally hundreds of thousands of first Silmarillions and none of the them (with the exception of salesmans' dummies, methuen, etc) are at all rare, despite what book-dealers might like you to think.

JLangh wrote:

Very cool! I didn't know there was a Billing second impression! I thought Billings was considered the "second impression" after the Export then went back again to Clowes and Sons for the Domestic 2nd. Sadly no, Tolkienbooks.net has plenty of great info but none of the textual inconsistencies! I thought to myself, "well I can't expect them to do all the work for me can I?" ... 6 hours of googling later I was posting on here as well as purchasing The Descriptive Bibliography by Hammond

Where'd you find The Descriptive Bibliography by Hammond for less than all three of those Silmarillion? Edit: I now see that post was from 6 years ago. Maybe it was easier to find back then?

Ok. Thank you very much for your advice