rosshm16 wrote:

The deluxe edition (9780008601409) I ordered recently on AbeBooks arrived today. It was new and is still a first printing. I didn't notice any obvious printing errors but also didn't flip through each page yet.

It is huge. The spine is much thicker than the ~1200-page deluxe 2004 Lord of the Rings. Really feels like they should have done two volumes or used India paper or something here.

The slipcase was the tightest I've ever owned. The sides of it bow out a bit when the book is inserted. I had to tip it and give it several vigorous two-handed shakes to get the book out. It would not have been possible to get it out by pinching and pulling the spine without damaging it.

Sounds right for this edition. Mine isn't quite that bad (it doesn't bow), but I have no doubt it would not be possible to put it back in if read. Honestly, I'm still quite salty about this edition as I think the publisher really pushed things calling this "deluxe". It is a trade edition (essentially identical) without the jacket in a slipcase that doesn't fit. Mine did have some ink splodges, so got refunded and I decided not to replace, given the price and lack-of-quality.

The late Stu wrote:

Sounds right for this edition. Mine isn't quite that bad (it doesn't bow), but I have no doubt it would not be possible to put it back in if read. Honestly, I'm still quite salty about this edition as I think the publisher really pushed things calling this "deluxe". It is a trade edition (essentially identical) without the jacket in a slipcase that doesn't fit. Mine did have some ink splodges, so got refunded and I decided not to replace, given the price and lack-of-quality.

The variance in quality of the HC "deluxe" releases is certainly frustrating. The deluxe Father Christmas is an example of the "quarter-bound in colorful paper" line that I think was really well done. The several deluxe releases with the full cloth bindings are great books. HC seems to have given up on that line unfortunately.

rosshm16 wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

Sounds right for this edition. Mine isn't quite that bad (it doesn't bow), but I have no doubt it would not be possible to put it back in if read. Honestly, I'm still quite salty about this edition as I think the publisher really pushed things calling this "deluxe". It is a trade edition (essentially identical) without the jacket in a slipcase that doesn't fit. Mine did have some ink splodges, so got refunded and I decided not to replace, given the price and lack-of-quality.

The variance in quality of the HC "deluxe" releases is certainly frustrating. The deluxe Father Christmas is an example of the "quarter-bound in colorful paper" line that I think was really well done. The several deluxe releases with the full cloth bindings are great books. HC seems to have given up on that line unfortunately.

Not sure if they have dropped that format for future books, but they are currently running three different "deluxe" formats simultaneously. I'm not sure there is much else to put into that cloth-bound series unless the 2004- series is phased out. Given how little Tolkien actually published in his lifetime, there are a baffling number of editions in print at the moment with an awful lot of overlapping content.

The late Stu wrote:

I'm not sure there is much else to put into that cloth-bound series unless the 2004- series is phased out. Given how little Tolkien actually published in his lifetime, there are a baffling number of editions in print at the moment with an awful lot of overlapping content.

I’d love to see Foster’s Complete Guide get a 2004 style deluxe release like Nature of Middle Earth and history of the hobbit/lotr did.

Halbarad wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

I'm not sure there is much else to put into that cloth-bound series unless the 2004- series is phased out. Given how little Tolkien actually published in his lifetime, there are a baffling number of editions in print at the moment with an awful lot of overlapping content.

I’d love to see Foster’s Complete Guide get a 2004 style deluxe release like Nature of Middle Earth and history of the hobbit/lotr did.

There are rumors of an illustrated, single-volume "Book of Lost Tales". Who knows which deluxe format it will be, or if it will even have a deluxe release.

rosshm16 wrote:

Halbarad wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

I'm not sure there is much else to put into that cloth-bound series unless the 2004- series is phased out. Given how little Tolkien actually published in his lifetime, there are a baffling number of editions in print at the moment with an awful lot of overlapping content.

I’d love to see Foster’s Complete Guide get a 2004 style deluxe release like Nature of Middle Earth and history of the hobbit/lotr did.

There are rumors of an illustrated, single-volume "Book of Lost Tales". Who knows which deluxe format it will be, or if it will even have a deluxe release.

I have to say, this would not be getting my money. I think I'm all done with repackagings after the last HoME. This would be a repackaging too far for me (I also haven't bothered with a lot of the recent matte editions, such as FCL, Maps, etc -- particularly with FCL, the number of editions in a very short period was ridiculous). I wonder when buyer fatigue will generally set in for this stuff, especially as realistically, mostly people are just sticking them on their shelves/looking at the pictures (myself included).

For new buyer/readers (which are plenty and constant) these new editions are always good.

“Buyer fatigue” is not a thing unless one is an old buyer and yet wants to keep buying them.

ahsnait wrote:

For new buyer/readers (which are plenty and constant) these new editions are always good.

“Buyer fatigue” is not a thing unless one is an old buyer and yet wants to keep buying them.

Equally, why would a "new" buyer care about edition A vs B vs C vs D of the same book, then. Why is a new edition good unless it is materially better than the one that went before (which I can state categorically has often not been the case)? I'd argue that high quality new editions are good, but that is rarely what we actually see (and this is not just Tolkien, it is an industry-wide phenomenon).