Book Depository has a listing for The Nature of Middle-earth which, at the price point, seems like it may be the deluxe edition.

Link: https://www.bookdepository.com/Nature- ... rth-Tolkien/9780008440572

It is still early days though, so who knows what this might turn out to be.

I think it's just a placeholder, or else there'd be two editions listed. We'll have to wait for HarperCollins to announce it.

Quick question about the Deluxe releases. The last one I got was The Fall of Gondolin.

I'm trying to figure out what came after that. Was it only Father Christmas Letters and Sir Gawain? Did both get 1st prints in Italy?

Yes both of those came out after The Fall of Gondolin, and the next one is the illustrated slipcased edition of Unfinished Tales.

Morinehtar wrote:

Quick question about the Deluxe releases. The last one I got was The Fall of Gondolin.

I'm trying to figure out what came after that. Was it only Father Christmas Letters and Sir Gawain? Did both get 1st prints in Italy?

FCL's first print is of unknown origin as it is not stated. Sir Gawain indeed has an Italian first print, but not LEGO -- and I think it is fair to say that that the paper quality is perfectly reasonable but not quite up to the usual LEGO standard.

insurrbution wrote:

Yes both of those came out after The Fall of Gondolin, and the next one is the illustrated slipcased edition of Unfinished Tales.

The upcoming UT is part of a different deluxe series isn’t it? ?

eorl wrote:

insurrbution wrote:

Yes both of those came out after The Fall of Gondolin, and the next one is the illustrated slipcased edition of Unfinished Tales.

The upcoming UT is part of a different deluxe series isn’t it? ?

Indeed. I don't think it make sense to describe it as the "next one". It is completely unrelated.

Thanks for this information!

For FCL, I'm disappointed they pulled the "unknown origin" again. What kind of printing shop are they using that they'd rather omit this information? I saw the issues with the glue and the stamp. Baffling, especially for a Deluxe product.

It's really sad HC seems to have stopped using LEGO, but at least Sir Gawain got a 1st print in Europe, hope I'm not too late.

Morinehtar wrote:

Thanks for this information!

For FCL, I'm disappointed they pulled the "unknown origin" again. What kind of printing shop are they using that they'd rather omit this information? I saw the issues with the glue and the stamp. Baffling, especially for a Deluxe product.

It's really sad HC seems to have stopped using LEGO, but at least Sir Gawain got a 1st print in Europe, hope I'm not too late.

Yeah, you have to be happy with the small wins. I'd rather a decent (albeit not amazing) European print than anything produced in China.

Yeah.... not to sound like a broken record, but these 'deluxe' editions they've been publishing since 2004 aren't 'deluxe' compared to what the publisher used to offer in the late '90s / early 2000's. Where's the gilt-edged pages? Where's the leather(ette) slipcase and binding? Only the limited editions of The Children of Hurin and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun deserve to be called "deluxe", in my own personal opinion.

I mean, with some of the issues I've been reading about that some of the slipcased editions have been having (from The Story of Kullervo onwards) I'm inclined to think that the standard hardback editions are of better production quality!