I shan't presume to advise you as to what you should do, but let's see what comes up in a general discussion. I don't know whether the number of copies of a reprint of RotK is much of a factor. On the other hand, it's reasonably early, and- a bibliographical oddity - the fourth imp. was the last to have the impression printed on the spine of the dustwrapper. Oddly, this does not occur on copies of FR, nor TT; nor even the 1st impression of RK. it's just, well, odd.

As for the d'Ardenne books - I don't know. I would suggest you go for what makes you happiest; which I guess would be the two books, given your specialist interests. I believe Tolkien did give Simonne a large anount of help with St Julienne; indeed he ought to have been listed as a co-editor, but he refused, because Simonne had a better chance of a chair at Liege if she'd been down as sole editor.

Of course, it's easy for me to talk - I've copies of RK, and both editions of Julienne (but not Katerine - yet)

*edit - just got my copies of Julienne out - looking at the preliminaries, I see that both have identical Prefatory Notes (including thanks to Elaine griffiths as well as Tolkien). But the EETS has in addition a page of Corrigenda, which might prove useful in your studies.

I'd buy the Return of the King.

I have a re-bound 1936 Julienne and and the EETS Katerine.

The Preface to the Katerine says: "When SRTOd'A first planned this edition over forty years ago, she had hoped to have the collaboration of JRR Tolkien, the academic supervisor of her work on Seinte Julienne but, in the event, (initially becasue of the war of 1939-1945) he took no part in it"

So the Katerine has some (but limited) Tolkien interest.

As garm points out, twe books is a better choice from an academic point of view.

Like him, I would hesitate to advise you but have to say the 1936 Julienne is very rare in my experience and passing up a chance to get one would be hard. You may well find a copy of the Katerine again in the future.

Personally (and without hesitation), I would go for the 1936 Passiun of Seinte Iuliene. Quite hard to find an original printing (especially in original wrappers - mostly found re-bound). And £40 seems extremely reasonable (The in-print EETS edition costs around that amount new). That would be from my "collector's" point of view.

Thanks for your posts Garm, Jlong, Gawain and Remy.
Does anyone have a photo of the original binding of the 1936 edition of 'Seinte Iuliene'? I have received this photo's of the seller but it's not the original binding, is it?
I've also uploaded a photo of The Return of the King and of the other two books, for comparison.
(Hope this is not going to be too large a post)

Are you getting the RK 1st/4th for £30? That sounds awful good too. But, another RK will always come around (altho' doubtful at this price) --will the others? Sometimes it's worthwhile buying the rarities when the opportunity arises; you might not see another copy for a while. I'd buy RK personally...

BH

another good debate

I agree with Khamul. The RoK would be my choice. This being said I personally would rather save my money until i could afford a first impression (can get for £300 with wrapper if patient) or maybe buy a first w/o a d/w (circa £50) and then get a copy d/w (circa £25) to complete. I know the latter is not everyones cup of tea but with a different option.

'Sometimes it's worthwhile buying the rarities when the opportunity arises'

Great advise and dont hesitate. I have lost out on some great offers including a 1963 deluxe LOTR set for £400 only last year because i messed around. So if ROK is a good buy go for it.

Hi Onónion,

The Iuliene in the photo is rebound. I have attached a few pictures in original (softcover) binding.

Laurel I have lost out on some great offers including a 1963 deluxe LOTR set for £400 only last year because i messed around.

Something like that happened to me also. About two-three years ago, I had the chance to buy a Dutch first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring, signed by Tolkien for about €75, I think. I doubted because it was an ex-library copy (without d/j), in bad condition and wasn't too sure about the signature (I was rather a 'newbie' back then), and it was quite a lot of money for me back then. So I let it slip out of my hands, just like that.
A year ago, I was searching Beren's website and in his shop I saw that same book, for about €1800!
I cursed myself to hell. I could have had one of the very few - if not the sole! - signed Dutch Tolkien books.

But too bad, such things happen (although I hope they never do anymore ).

Edit/ Thank you for those photo's Remy!

Laurel I have lost out on some great offers including a 1963 deluxe LOTR set for £400 only last year because i messed around.

I would have been extremely annoyed if that set had gone for £400, unless he sold it to me. As the eventual buyer of the copy in question, it cost considerably more than £400 when bidding finished on eBay.