By Heronduil
Just popping in

2020 Alan Lee Illustrated Lord of The Rings set

20 December
2024-12-20 7:23:34 PM UTC

I recently purchased a copy of the 2020 Alan lee Illustrated Lord of the Rings set and upon receiving it noticed a couple of horrible printing errors so I put in for an exchange. The new set came with it's own set of issues (The back endpaper map in fellowship was put in upside down, several pages have the print pretty out of focus, etc.). In trying to choose which set has less issues to keep (which I'm inclined to do as they seem tough to find in the US, it's now out of stock on Amazon where I bought it) I've been reviewing them back and forth and found the headbands of fellowship on the first set to not be long enough to cover the whole spine. Does anyone know if these are purely decorative on these books?

I figure they probably are based on what I've read researching this but I'd like to make sure as this is a decent sized purchase for me right now.

And more broadly, I'm curious, what would make you return a book? I'm leaning more on keeping the first set. It has two and a half pages of barely legible print in The Two Towers and this headband issues, but I think I prefer two and a half pages of really illegible print to the second set that has maybe ten or more pages of more legible but fuzzy, out of focus print. The first is a 7th printing, the second an 8th printing, for what it's worth.

Thank you in advance!

Pictured: The headband issues and one of the printing issues

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The late Stu
Home away from home

20 December
2024-12-20 9:37:22 PM UTC

Is that a 5th impression purchased from an Amazon reseller? If so, they are known to be junk. It isn't clear why/how they came to market, but they only show up on AZ resellers. The headband will be purely decorative.

I'd just return both sets and buy from a more reputable source.

Edit: I see you stated the impressions and they aren't the notorious 5th. I'd still return them. Neither are acceptable.

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Mr. Underhill
Shirrif (Moderator)

20 December
2024-12-20 9:58:11 PM UTC

I agree, I would keep niether set and try and find a non defective one on the second hand market. There appear to be plenty to choose from.

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£120.00 HarperCollins (Other Format) - Availability: Click to check

$204.41 Blackwell's (hardback (slipcased)) - Availability: Unknown

$123.44 Biblio (HARDBACK) - Availability: Click to check

$123.15 Amazon.com (Hardcover) - Availability: Now

£83.30 Amazon.co.uk (Hardcover) - Availability: Backorderable

€120.00 Amazon.de (Gebundene Ausgabe) - Availability: Now

$117.74 AbeBooks - Availability: Click to check

£50.49 eBay UK - Availability: Click to check

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Halbarad

20 December
2024-12-20 11:01:47 PM UTC

As someone who also lives in the US, AwesomeBooks.com is the most reliable place (my experience) to get books from. Blackwell is notorious for terrible packaging, and awesomebooks almost always has better prices as well.

If you’re planning on collecting different editions regularly, most would recommend that you never order from Amazon. The sellers don’t do a great job at ensuring you get the edition you ordered and the packaging is almost always poor as well.

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Toothsayer
Just popping in

21 December
2024-12-21 7:55:26 AM UTC

What a bizarre printing error. It almost looks as if it’s a photo issue at first glance! Trippy.

I mirror what the others have said: return them. You asked what could cause us to return a book? Something like what you got for sure. Some times I’ll let minor things slide. But other times I’ve been known to go through upwards of 5 or more exchanges before I am satisfied. And other times I just have to realize I’m being a customer service and logistical nightmare, and that I need to give up and try another retailer. Some times bad batches in certain warehouses can happen.

I live in the US, and I know AwesomeBooks gets a lot of love around here, they have good prices, but I’ve also had great luck with Blackwells too. Maybe more people can speak otherwise with their own experiences, like Halbarad above me said about their packaging, but I say you can’t go wrong with either one.

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Heronduil

14 hours ago (edited)
2024-12-21 5:44:24 PM UTC

Thank you all for the great advice! I may just return both. It is thankfully not the notorious 5th impression, which I read about after ordering, though obviously I still had poor luck. It was sold directly from Amazon and not a reseller though, and I have to say, the exchange set was the nicest shipping I've got from Amazon- completely wrapped in bubblewrap to the point it was almost difficult to get it out of the box.

That said, I will take a look at AwesomeBooks. I had heard of Blackwells and saw they we're out of stock there too, which is part of what was making me think about keeping these.

Thank you for letting me know I'm not just being nitpicky! Looking around online to see how people handled misprints and errors and such I saw people say things to the effect of "Well, no books going to be absolutely perfect" but I know I have quite a few mass market paperbacks without any errors like this and, while I know this isn't the most deluxe set out right now, I had high expectations.

Toothsayer wrote:
What a bizarre printing error. It almost looks as if it’s a photo issue at first glance! Trippy.

Right?! I couldn't believe it when I found it while flipping through the books. It looks even worse in person!

EDIT: Does anyone happen to know if this set is still being printed?

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The late Stu
Home away from home

7 hours ago
2024-12-22 12:14:57 AM UTC

Heronduil wrote:

EDIT: Does anyone happen to know if this set is still being printed?

I'd be surprised if it wasn't, given there isn't currently any other AL set except for the much more expensive deluxe. There are often short periods of unavailability between prints of Tolkien books. Things tend to go out of stock before Christmas as lots of gift purchases.

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2020 Alan Lee Illustrated Lord of The Rings set

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