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Re: We have pleasure in sending the accompanying book for review...

Subject: Re: We have pleasure in sending the accompanying book for review...
by Urulókë on 2008/6/15 12:46:36

I dug up my notes on the US Silmarillion.

The book and letter were sent out August 10, 1977. The book appeared to be identical to the trade 1st edition in all regards, but I don't have it in hand to verify 100% any more. Given the size of the print run, there is essentially no chance whatsoever that they were still making changes to the text at this late date.

For the review copies (Advance Reading Copies or ARCs for short) that I have seen for the HOME series, they are mostly non-finished text bound in simple paper wrappers - clearly sent out much further in advance than the Silmarillion copy I saw. I did have a review copy of The Book of Lost Tales Part I that was just one of the trade 1st edition copies (printed in Great Britain) with an ink stamp on the top of the page block that said "not for resale".

Douglas Anderson in The Annotated Hobbit (p. 15 Revised and Expanded edition, 2002) states that the book was printed in June, but withheld from release until the fall in order to let review copies be sent out and to target the Christmas market.