Second impression, second impression, and first impression, in dust jackets.
Publisher and Year: London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954, 1955, and 1955
Edition: Three volumes, comprising (1) The Fellowship of the Ring, second impression in a price-clipped third impression dust jacket, (2) The Two Towers, second impression in a second impression dust jacket, and (3) The Return of the King, first impression (second state), in a first impression dust jacket (also a second state, with blurbs for the first two books on the rear flap). The first volume is the shorter of the two known variants (no priority). The second volume has the date of 1955 on the title page, an essential issue point confirming that it is indeed a second impression (the third impression misleadingly has an identical copyright page but lacks the date on the title page). The third volume has the signature mark “4” and the sagging type on p. 49 (e.g., in “Legolas”), which was once believed to indicate the first state of the text, but bibliographer Wayne Hammond later confirmed it to mark the second state instead. Both states of the third volume were issued on the same day. Of these specific impressions, 2,500 copies of The Fellowship of the Ring were made, compared with 1,800 copies of The Two Towers and 7,000 copies of The Return of the King. (Hammond & Anderson, 1993, A5; later amended by Hammond in articles published in The Tolkien Collector in 1995 [No. 9 and No. 11] and 2000 [No. 23]; The TolkienBooks website, “Printing and Binding The Lord of the Rings”)
Condition and Description: Three octavo volumes, publisher’s red cloth stamped in gilt, red topstains, other edges plain, map bound at the rear of each volume, all in dust jackets. 423 pp. (Vol. 1); 352 pp. (Vol. 2); 416 pp. (Vol. 3). Securely bound and hinges firm. Topstains variably faded. Gilt bright and just a trifle rubbed. Minimal handling wear and soiling to the boards and textblock edges. Return of the King has some light staining to the bottom edge of the boards. Endpapers unevenly toned from offsetting. Maps intact. Small and unobtrusive bookseller ticket (Parkers of Oxford) to the front pastedown of the first two volumes. No writing or underlining. Dust jackets are toned (especially the spines), rubbed, a little soiled, and have small chips to the extremities. Jacket of The Fellowship of the Ring is price-clipped, though the others retain their prices. Jacket of The Two Towers has had tape neatly removed from the verso, with slight discoloration remaining, not visible on the recto. Preserved in archival mylar and in a red clamshell case stamped in gilt.
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Inventory ID: 750 - 411 - 381
Second impression, second impression, and first impression, in dust jackets.
Publisher and Year: London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954, 1955, and 1955
Edition: Three volumes, comprising (1) The Fellowship of the Ring, second impression in a price-clipped third impression dust jacket, (2) The Two Towers, second impression in a second impression dust jacket, and (3) The Return of the King, first impression (second state), in a first impression dust jacket (also a second state, with blurbs for the first two books on the rear flap). The first volume is the shorter of the two known variants (no priority). The second volume has the date of 1955 on the title page, an essential issue point confirming that it is indeed a second impression (the third impression misleadingly has an identical copyright page but lacks the date on the title page). The third volume has the signature mark “4” and the sagging type on p. 49 (e.g., in “Legolas”), which was once believed to indicate the first state of the text, but bibliographer Wayne Hammond later confirmed it to mark the second state instead. Both states of the third volume were issued on the same day. Of these specific impressions, 2,500 copies of The Fellowship of the Ring were made, compared with 1,800 copies of The Two Towers and 7,000 copies of The Return of the King. (Hammond & Anderson, 1993, A5; later amended by Hammond in articles published in The Tolkien Collector in 1995 [No. 9 and No. 11] and 2000 [No. 23]; The TolkienBooks website, “Printing and Binding The Lord of the Rings”)
Condition and Description: Three octavo volumes, publisher’s red cloth stamped in gilt, red topstains, other edges plain, map bound at the rear of each volume, all in dust jackets. 423 pp. (Vol. 1); 352 pp. (Vol. 2); 416 pp. (Vol. 3). Securely bound and hinges firm. Topstains variably faded. Gilt bright and just a trifle rubbed. Minimal handling wear and soiling to the boards and textblock edges. Return of the King has some light staining to the bottom edge of the boards. Endpapers unevenly toned from offsetting. Maps intact. Small and unobtrusive bookseller ticket (Parkers of Oxford) to the front pastedown of the first two volumes. No writing or underlining. Dust jackets are toned (especially the spines), rubbed, a little soiled, and have small chips to the extremities. Jacket of The Fellowship of the Ring is price-clipped, though the others retain their prices. Jacket of The Two Towers has had tape neatly removed from the verso, with slight discoloration remaining, not visible on the recto. Preserved in archival mylar and in a red clamshell case stamped in gilt.
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Inventory ID: 750 - 411 - 381
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