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Re: Glen Goodknight on ABEbooks

Subject: Re: Glen Goodknight on ABEbooks
by Mithrennaith on 2008/10/27 14:17:28

I should take the opportunity to point out an error in the article, that I have come across several times before, in this bibliographical description:

In de Ban van de Ring (3 vols.), the Dutch first edition of The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, published by Het Spectrum, Antwerp in 1956.

Giving the place of publication wrongly as Antwerp only gives the wholly erroneous impression that this was a Belgian publication. It wasn't, it was a Dutch one. 'Het Spectrum' was a Dutch roman catholic publishing house that, in those days before the European Common Market had taken hold, had a subsidiary office in the second (partly) Dutch-speaking country, so that its books could count as domestic publications there as well.

I've checked my own copies, and the place of publication is definitely given as "Utrecht ..... Antwerpen", with Utrecht having priority of place. The probable cause of the all too common error is that in the first volume "Utrecht" is placed above and "Antwerpen" below the publishers name "Uitgeverij Het Spectrum". In the other volumes "Utrecht / Antwerpen" is placed below the name, and the publication year of "MCMLVII" (1957) is placed above instead.

That also corrects a minor error, only the first volume was published in 1956, without stating the year.

Incidentally, the dates of the first A&U edition are also given wrongly in the article.