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Re: Assistance required with identifying first UK edition The Return of the King

Subject: Re: Assistance required with identifying first UK edition The Return of the King
by Trotter on 2008/5/18 4:24:49

The dust jackets for the First UK printing of the Lord of The Rings were a very light-grey colour.

Hammond (page 95) Tolkien (15th June 1954) remarks to Beard that 'the jacket is now much improved, and is rather striking. I like the grey paper used, and much prefer it to the other colours.'

As the colour is so light modern facsimile dust jackets are usually on white paper.

The paper when exposed to the sunlight turns brown. A perfect copy should be light-grey, but in nearly all cases the spine is brown and if the front or back of the books have also been exposed to sunlight then they would be brown as well.