There is now an American deluxe edition with a bookplate on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260130456166

I haven't heard of any loose bookplates that individuals could have to put in deluxe American editions, nor have I heard of Houghton Mifflin giving any away if they had held onto any bookplates this long.

The deluxe edition in the US was released almost a month after the bookplates were all given away in the USA.

Beren, any possibility this is real?

Re: dated bookplates by Alan Lee

The US trade editions with bookplates were not dated, as they were signed in advance by both CJRT and Alan Lee before being mailed over the Atlantic. The UK bookplates signed by CJRT in advance were signed by Alan Lee in person, and all dated (I believe) by Alan Lee.

Other CoH signings done just by Alan Lee he has always dated the signature, to my knowledge.

Well for starters... i have a US deluxe with a bookplate myself... it was given to me together with a letter from Sanj the marketing director of Houghton Mifflin. He insisted the only 'other' such edition was in his office.

Now, then something happened that was curious... I saw 4 deluxe US copies being sold, and I can say that the bookplates where absolutely genuine. I don't want to mention names, but these bookplates came 'from the UK' and where 'leftovers' from a bookdealer. (imagine leftovers). Funny enough this bookdealer ran out of UK deluxe editions and when seeing the amount of money offered by some people he stuck them in 4 US Deluxe Copies which he then sent to the US. There they got sold within one day after arrival.

Secondly, I know now some bookplates have been distributed to some 'good' client bookdealers to assure they have some 'presentation' copies for themselves. Some must start to hit the market now....

So the 4 US Deluxe, plus the true 2 US Deluxe makes 6 already, is this number 7?

By the way... not all UK bookplates have Alan Lee's autograph on the bookplate (most are on the title page) and not all are dated.

The one on ebay is a UK edition. It's difficult to read in the picture but I believe it says Harper Collins. There is also one signed on the Tolkienlibrary.com that is not dated. I sent an e-mail to the person selling on ebay. He said he purchased this from a silent auction and can provide the paperwork. I would love to have signed deluxe edition but I would not want to pay so much money if there is a chance they might be fraudulent. If you have any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

I have a loose bookplate that was laid-into a US Regular Trade Edition. I purchased it on ABE from a seller in San Franciso a couple of days after the launch. I believe it may have come from the Launch at 'Booksmith' in San Fran. They had 5 bookplates to give away on the launch day (as did a few other stores in the US). I also believe it was the responsibility of the bookstores to paste in the bookplates (under instruction from the publisher). So maybe the store in San Fran did not follow directions.

It is certainly genuine in any case. I have 2 other Bookplate Editions to compare against (one obtained by a good friend and the other purchased on the 18-APR on Ebay). So I am completely confident it is genuine.

I think I read somewhere also that the Tolkien Estate got a quantity of bookplates to distribute as they saw fit. Cannot remember where I read that.

With regards to the Bookplates in the US Deluxe Editions. I believe the one on Ebay is genuine. While I am reluctant to say anything definitively (when it is second-hand information), I also believe that HMCO did indeed hold back some quantity of bookplates and did distribute them to 'selected people'. Whether this was officially done is another question. I have no idea. But I do believe there are a number of US Delxue Editions with genuine bookplates. Probably a relatively small number.

The US Deluxe one one eBay doesn't look quite right. The lines on the helm look a bit too thick and black (not as bad as the obviously dodgy ones on eBay a few weeks ago). Fairly unscientifically, I took a picture of a good one and shrank it down to the same size as the image from the US Deluxe on eBay. The image of the 'good one' that I shrank down still had much finer lines than the photo of the US Deluxe exhibits. It may indeed be genuine, but I wouldn't personally risk it...

I think on the whole that any of the bookplated CoHs are a truly bad investment for anyone that didn't get one at the launch. In the future no one is going to trust their authenticity, so all you really have is a $30 - $60 book in a fairly uninspiring binding (even the deluxes are a fairly bland-looking book compared to the various pre-2004 UK deluxe editions) with bit of dubious paper stuck in it.

Just my opinion, though - and I appreciate that it doesn't count for much :)

I am sure there are many others with similiar sentiments. However, if you are a collector and you want a Bookplated Edition for the collection, then the reality is that you just have to purchase one. They will become very scarce in the near future.

In general, the vast majority of people selling on ebay are honest and it is mostly easy enough to determine the fakes (but not always). And if you use a Credit Card or Paypal to purchase, then if after receving the book, you determine it is not genuine, then you will be covered by your Credit Card guarantee. As far as I can tell, I have only seen a few fakes on Ebay so far.

But if you are looking at it from purely an investment point of view, then you may well be right. Hard to tell where prices will go in the future. But for me, the most important thing is having a copy that I believe to be genuine. The future value doesn't really matter much to me (though obviously it is nice bonus to see prices of editions you possess rise in value).

All IMHO.

In regards to Alan Lee signing and dating books, Alan normally signs and puts the date on the book. But like most book signers, they are normally happy to do whatever is asked for. I just asked him to sign mine and not date it, my copies do not have dates.

Just thought I would add to the discussion a little.

I managed to procur a few of the US Deluxe Editions with the signed bookplate from a couple of people who worked for one of the business involved in the release at Waterstones. Part of my purchase agreement was not to divulge the identity of the individuals or what company they worked for. Since then I have come to the conclusion that there were a number of extra's of the bookplates that did not make it into the trade edition or deluxe editions that were sold at the release date party(s). Once all of the UK books were sold, they were stuck into the only available Deluxe Editions, (which got a higher price) which happened to be the US version which was released a few days before I received them (after shipping from the UK). I have no reason to believe that they are fakes, as I have compared them to many copies in my own collection/inventory, and they appear to be genuine in every respect.

One other point to make for discussion purpose's only. I also discovered that the newly stuck down plates were very easy to lift and replace. I had one book that had a bad binding error, and I tried to lift it, and it was quite easy to remove. Just a little bit of carefull pulling from one corner, and the whole bookplate liften right off, leaving no residue, and was able to stick back into it's current residence, still in my personal collection.

Also in the US, if you could not make the signing even in New York, you could simply call in and place an order for up to two of the signed copies and charge it to your credit card. Luckily I figured this out a couple of days before, and managed to get two direct from the bookseller Barnes & Noble. Just thought I would mention that, as anyone could have purchased that way. Maybe next time around someone will benefit from that knowledge.

Also, I have run across about every variation possible on the Alan Lee signatures, date, no date, signed to the bookplate, not signed on the bookplate but on the title page, extra drawing by AL done on the front endpaper, etc. Just about anything you could think of he would do, given the time. With the number of signing he attended with a few days of release the number of permutations is almost endless.

D

I'm not sure what you're saying!

B&N got ~450 (signed by CT & AL), Waterstones ~200 (signed by CT only)--as widely reported at the time (figures from David Brawn via Beren).

When you say "Once all of the UK books were sold..." --where & when are you referring to? You go on to say "they were stuck into the only available Deluxe Editions, (which got a higher price) which happened to be the US version...". In the US only HM's standard Hb had been published at launch time.

Theoretically, excepting the one or two that you refer to (that were held back; probably unofficially) & the more problematic peeling problem, the variations are fairly straightforward --are they not? Why would any bookplates have been inserted into US Deluxe editions?

Not trying to up the scarcity claim (because there were, reportedly, about 900 of these all in) but CT himself didn't have any for distribution at the time, so I doubt (as discussed above back in 2007) that The Tolkien Estate had much, if any. DB stated recently that they were all used i.e. (my interpretation) they were all distributed by HC (regardless of what then happened to them) at the time. He gave no hint or impression of staggered distribution.

The peeling is quite interesting though...

BH