I did arrange a deal for European customers before the day of the sale and did manage to order 'a lot' of copies for many Tolkien collectors on the European continent before the shop opened up. I was not aware then that they would not open up at all for the US and so did not ask more. I did spent a huge amount of money to be able to help out a lot of Tolkien collectors over here... since I was at that time only aware of the fact that they would only sell to the UK. So I did what I could do at that time and bought straight from HarperCollins and with the high postal and insurance costs the copies I arranged for the collectors over here turned out to be much more expensive then £350.

If I receive an order of 5 or more US collectors (that is 10 copies in total) I can of course do the same thing for the US collectors, but be aware that the copies will become more expensive then £350. If the order is large enough, I'm sure I will be able to arrange another deal with HarperCollins.

Does anyone know anything about the technical/legal aspects of this [problem]? Surely this whole absurd situation has been brought about by HarperCollins selling this book direct?

Right now anyone from the US can go on Amazon.com and buy a HarperCollins CoH -right? (perhaps this is wrong; ignore the rest of this argument if this is not the case!) So why did HC insist on this direct publisher-to-customer format for distribution? Okay, they didn't have to sell through Amazon, but could they not have arranged to have all the copies sold through a wholesalers other than themselves, thus allowing US customers to buy direct from the point of sale?; and removing the need for the current situation (UK buyers buying several copies with the express intent of selling them on to US collectors; US buyers getting their books send to UK residents who they know/trust etc etc)?

When the HoME Deluxe editions came out, the text was surely (as with CoH) copyrighted (with distribution rights etc) seperately in the US? Yet these were '1000 copies Worldwide', and were undoubtedly sold direct to US customers by Amazon!? Does anyone in the US remember where they bought their copies new from?

Pieter stated on TolkienLibrary.com in one of his many fine updates (thank you Pieter for your coverage and updates without which I'd probably not have got a copy) the following:

Harper Collins thought it would disappoint the thousands of people who have bought The Children of Hurin to provide new pictures only in the 500 signed copies. This edition was made especially for the Tolkien fans and collectors and can only be obtained by registrating at the site mentioned above. This was done so that the books go to people who will genuinely appreciate it.

Does anyone really believe that fans (and not collectors) would be willing to pay £350+ for a book? Of course at this price, it's unlikely the books will end up with anyone other than those who will 'genuinely appreciate' them. But HC seem to have just created a situation where these books will undoubtedly end up being sold new on Ebay and Abebooks etc, simply because there is a demand for them from US customers (who cannot buy direct from HC). And these Tolkien 'fans' will just have to hope they can secure a copy for a reasonable price from a trustworthy dealer (i.e. like Wellinghall). Even then (as he has admitted) with Paypal and Ebay fees, the price cannot be that of HC. A problem HarperCollins have created by this selling policy; and one the 'fans' and 'collectors' are having to sort out!

Having said all this, I'm resident in the UK and this has had little affect on me. And, I'm genuinely excited about receiving my first 'super' deluxe edition.

[Pieter!] Could they not have arranged for you to deal with all the US customers?

I can probably swing two more copies of the signed CoH if there are other collectors in the USA who can't arrange to get their own copies. With the double shipping, it will run about $800 for a copy. If anyone is interested, drop me a line in the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!

Thank you for your replies. I had this thread marked for notifications, but never received any.

If I could get both for $50-75 I would be very happy, Rowns (more if they are exceptional quality). Please e-mail me at marksbooksnsuch@yahoo.com if you find anything.

Hi Tinfang,

I think it was your response (and ones like it) through the Tolkien.co.uk forums that got the international support added... the following message from the forum administrator over there was posted last night:



I did manage to get my two copies ordered (have to have them delivered in the UK and then reshipped to me to get around the publisher's limitations) but it is doable for those US people with good friends in the UK.