I own a copy of Unfinished Tales, but I am not sure I am willing to part with it, nor I knew until now that a 1st impression of this book was a rare item.

Khamûl wrote:

Emilien wrote:

Mustycats on ebay sold them just before I found mines for £250 each, and they have been sold during the day...

^ This reads like you bought copies for £250 each.

Sorry if that was unclear.
I bought mines at the end of august, 2 weeks after mustycats sold his two copies for £250 each (Silmarillion + UT)

Berelach wrote:

Khamûl wrote:

Emilien wrote:

Mustycats on ebay sold them just before I found mines for £250 each, and they have been sold during the day...

^ This reads like you bought copies for £250 each.

Can you share these 'sold' listings here? I'd be interested in seeing that.

Silmarillion 2006 printed by LEGO until at least the 10th; moved to Chinese printer by the 13th.

Sorry I don't have them in my watch list saves items, and can't manage to find them on worthpoint.
At the end of last july/beginiing of august, I saw that Mustycats sold a 50th anniversary set around £300 plus first printings of 2006 Silmarillion and Unfinished tales for £250 each (BIN)

Emilien wrote:

Sorry I don't have them in my watch list saves items, and can't manage to find them on worthpoint. At the end of last july/beginiing of august, I saw that Mustycats sold a 50th anniversary set around £300 plus first printings of 2006 Silmarillion and Unfinished tales for £250 each (BIN)

No problem. I remember seeing the 50th set and several other listings that Mustycats put up around that time, but I'm sure I would have remembered Sil/UT going for that price. I suppose I just missed it. It is definitely an outrageous price, and the fact that they both sold makes it even more strange.

Ecthelion wrote:

I own a copy of Unfinished Tales, but I am not sure I am willing to part with it, nor I knew until now that a 1st impression of this book was a rare item.

It's a nice edition, but not rare in any sense. Even first printings are common. I've ordered several for less than £10 each from some of those big warehouse type sellers, and almost every time they're firsts. Not trying to disappoint you, I just wouldn't want anyone to go through this thread thinking these editions are worth big money. They are not.

The Silmarillion on the other hand is more difficult to find in a first impression. They're out there though.

Emilien wrote:

Sorry I don't have them in my watch list saves items, and can't manage to find them on worthpoint.
At the end of last july/beginning of august, I saw that Mustycats sold a 50th anniversary set around £300 plus first printings of 2006 Silmarillion and Unfinished tales for £250 each (BIN)

eBay is a bit obtuse with what they share, but there are no completed items from mustycats that match these books, going back to July (at the time of my posting this).

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw&_ ... =2&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

Yeah I made the same research. But I assure you I saw those 2 at these very high prices. They were marked as sold in my watch list the same day I saw the listing created. Nevertheless, I don't remember the exact month.

I see no reason to think either of these were not first-printed in large numbers. I think I bought mine when they were on one of the 40% discount deals tolkien.co.uk used to do occasionally. I'm pretty sure they had been out for a couple of years (if not more) at that stage.

Paying anything beyond current RRP for these would be nuts, IMHO. In a few years there will be loads of them on the used market.

I think the problem here is thinking that books out in the last 20 years are rare/scarce because you don't see listings specifying "first impression" status. They're mostly just not listed with the kind of detail collectors look for i.e. they're mass ISBN style listings. There are literally hundreds of 2006 S currently on the market. Granted most are probably reprints. But who knows? Most sellers will simply not confirm or deny line numbers, printer details, etc. Nobody cares about this nonsense except us. And when people do provide this kind of detail, they provide it as they know this. And they pitch their prices accordingly.

Khamûl wrote:

I think the problem here is thinking that books out in the last 20 years are rare/scarce because you don't see listings specifying "first impression" status. They're mostly just not listed with the kind of detail collectors look for i.e. they're mass ISBN style listings. There are literally hundreds of 2006 S currently on the market. Granted most are probably reprints. But who knows? Most sellers will simply not confirm or deny line numbers, printer details, etc. Nobody cares about this nonsense except us. And when people do provide this kind of detail, they provide it as they know this. And they pitch their prices accordingly.

Completely agree with you. But the listings are so rare (even for a non ISBN-only listing with stock photo which is not a 1st printing) that is could be a bit discouraging for newcomers in collecting Tolkien books.
This is also very risky to order a copy "in the blind" to a warehouse. Silmarillion is around its 18th printing now (seen in the english bookstore in Paris), UT is beyond 11th. Finding a 1st in the blind is statistically risky. This is not a problem of availability but visibility

Khamûl wrote:

I think the problem here is thinking that books out in the last 20 years are rare/scarce because you don't see listings specifying "first impression" status. They're mostly just not listed with the kind of detail collectors look for i.e. they're mass ISBN style listings. There are literally hundreds of 2006 S currently on the market. Granted most are probably reprints. But who knows? Most sellers will simply not confirm or deny line numbers, printer details, etc. Nobody cares about this nonsense except us. And when people do provide this kind of detail, they provide it as they know this. And they pitch their prices accordingly.

Spot on.