21 Jan, 2015
2015-1-21 12:30:28 PM UTC
Hello everyone,
My name is Will, and I am posting here for the very first time.
I have a small and modest collection of Tolkien's works, and recently acquired The Return of the King in a secondhand bookstore. To be specific, it is the first authorised US edition of The Lord of the Rings, published by Ballantine between 1965 and 1973. I managed to acquire the third book, and wanted to complete the collection with the purchasing of the first two.
However, I must have made a mistake on Abebooks.com, because they sent me the Ballantine edition published between 1981 and 1983. For reference purposes, here are the editions that I am referring to:
Ballantine, 1965-1973:
https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=BallantineLOTR1Ballantine, 1981-1983:
https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=BallantineSweet1I went through the copy of the Ballantine, 1965-1973 edition and I cannot seem to find the ISBN number. As such, I have been unable to purchase the first two books to complete the collection! It will be of tremendous help if someone here were to point me in the right direction! From my understanding, the particular edition that I want was released separately and in a box at the very same time, so maybe that's why my copy does not come with an ISBN? I have no idea how it works.
Please help! You are my only hope!
21 Jan, 2015
2015-1-21 2:13:56 PM UTC
21 Jan, 2015
2015-1-21 2:15:22 PM UTC
ISBN was created in 1967 in the UK. So probably these American editions will not have the number.
Eduardo O.F.
www.tolkienbrasil.com
21 Jan, 2015
2015-1-21 3:38:17 PM UTC
Ah, now that explains it. Now, for seasoned collectors here, how do I go about collecting a specific edition without ISBN?
21 Jan, 2015
2015-1-21 6:25:44 PM UTC
Ah phooey, just a few months ago I donated about twenty sets of this edition to the library since I was moving. I will take a look around through the weekend and see if I can find another spare set I could send you.
In the meantime, to your most recent question:
Now, for seasoned collectors here, how do I go about collecting a specific edition without ISBN?
A good question, specifically for Lord of the Rings paperbacks - the copyright date did not change when the cover art did, so (as you have found), basing your shopping on this point will just as likely get you the wrong edition as the right one. Sometimes seeing the cover artist in the description will help - for example, there is only one edition with Barbara Remington cover art, so that helps in your case. Even using ISBN does not always help, as cover art (and sometimes text version!) changes with no change to ISBN.
Your best, most secure bet is to see the book in question - either images included in the listing (but be sure it doesn't say "stock photo"!) or by asking the seller to provide you an image of the actual book. For an inexpensive edition such as this one, eBay might be more useful as you can usually see exactly what you will be getting.
A quick search turned up these on eBay:
eBay Item #331450756760eBay Item #151559121973I hope this helps! Thanks for stopping in and asking.
22 Jan, 2015
2015-1-22 8:38:25 PM UTC
I have to admit, I've never searched for a book online using the books ISBN. So I look for pre-ISBN books... in the same way I look for ISBN books!
BH
26 Jan, 2015
2015-1-26 11:46:42 PM UTC
The first LOTR paperbacks were published by Ballantine Books in October 1965. To look for early Ballantine editions, you need to specify the cover artist (Barbara Remington) and the printing date. I do not recall these ever being sold as a boxed set, though I could be mistaken. So Fellowship would be labeled "First Printing, October 1965", The Two Towers is labeled "First Printing: November, 1965", and I suspect (but am uncertain) that The Return of the King might be listed as "December, 1965" but in the event all were released in October, 1965 and the corrected date can be found in later printings.
However, you might not want to confine your search to just the First Printings, as some changes were made: for example, the first 3 or so printings of Fellowship had the Ring inscription upside down, later corrected; and changes were made in some of the Elvish sayings, I think around the time of the 8th printing.
But be sure to check the printing dates! Ballantine went through so many printings that after a hundred or so they started renumbering with "First Printing" again!
Collecting Ballantine editions can be quite interesting. I believe that the Tolkien Collection of Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI has a complete set of Ballantine, so they might be able to provide more detailed information.
27 Jan, 2015
2015-1-27 2:07:36 AM UTC
dis wrote:
The first LOTR paperbacks were published by Ballantine Books in October 1965. To look for early Ballantine editions, you need to specify the cover artist (Barbara Remington) and the printing date. I do not recall these ever being sold as a boxed set, though I could be mistaken. So Fellowship would be labeled "First Printing, October 1965", The Two Towers is labeled "First Printing: November, 1965", and I suspect (but am uncertain) that The Return of the King might be listed as "December, 1965" but in the event all were released in October, 1965 and the corrected date can be found in later printings.
However, you might not want to confine your search to just the First Printings, as some changes were made: for example, the first 3 or so printings of Fellowship had the Ring inscription upside down, later corrected; and changes were made in some of the Elvish sayings, I think around the time of the 8th printing.
But be sure to check the printing dates! Ballantine went through so many printings that after a hundred or so they started renumbering with "First Printing" again!
Collecting Ballantine editions can be quite interesting. I believe that the Tolkien Collection of Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI has a complete set of Ballantine, so they might be able to provide more detailed information.
Pretty sure there was a boxed set (a fairly plain grey or green, I think?).
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