Thanks to the efforts of Srodziemie (elfy to his friends) received a variant copy of the 2006 Polish TS calendar. This one was issued for only a few days and was printed on yellow paper (where the "regular" issue was printed on white paper). Added it to my website the other day.

Away from The Green Hill Country,

Parmastahir

I have a loose bookplate that was laid-into a US Regular Trade Edition. I purchased it on ABE from a seller in San Franciso a couple of days after the launch. I believe it may have come from the Launch at 'Booksmith' in San Fran. They had 5 bookplates to give away on the launch day (as did a few other stores in the US). I also believe it was the responsibility of the bookstores to paste in the bookplates (under instruction from the publisher). So maybe the store in San Fran did not follow directions.

It is certainly genuine in any case. I have 2 other Bookplate Editions to compare against (one obtained by a good friend and the other purchased on the 18-APR on Ebay). So I am completely confident it is genuine.

I think I read somewhere also that the Tolkien Estate got a quantity of bookplates to distribute as they saw fit. Cannot remember where I read that.

With regards to the Bookplates in the US Deluxe Editions. I believe the one on Ebay is genuine. While I am reluctant to say anything definitively (when it is second-hand information), I also believe that HMCO did indeed hold back some quantity of bookplates and did distribute them to 'selected people'. Whether this was officially done is another question. I have no idea. But I do believe there are a number of US Delxue Editions with genuine bookplates. Probably a relatively small number.

The one on ebay is a UK edition. It's difficult to read in the picture but I believe it says Harper Collins. There is also one signed on the Tolkienlibrary.com that is not dated. I sent an e-mail to the person selling on ebay. He said he purchased this from a silent auction and can provide the paperwork. I would love to have signed deluxe edition but I would not want to pay so much money if there is a chance they might be fraudulent. If you have any advice for me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Well for starters... i have a US deluxe with a bookplate myself... it was given to me together with a letter from Sanj the marketing director of Houghton Mifflin. He insisted the only 'other' such edition was in his office.

Now, then something happened that was curious... I saw 4 deluxe US copies being sold, and I can say that the bookplates where absolutely genuine. I don't want to mention names, but these bookplates came 'from the UK' and where 'leftovers' from a bookdealer. (imagine leftovers). Funny enough this bookdealer ran out of UK deluxe editions and when seeing the amount of money offered by some people he stuck them in 4 US Deluxe Copies which he then sent to the US. There they got sold within one day after arrival.

Secondly, I know now some bookplates have been distributed to some 'good' client bookdealers to assure they have some 'presentation' copies for themselves. Some must start to hit the market now....

So the 4 US Deluxe, plus the true 2 US Deluxe makes 6 already, is this number 7?

By the way... not all UK bookplates have Alan Lee's autograph on the bookplate (most are on the title page) and not all are dated.

Re: dated bookplates by Alan Lee

The US trade editions with bookplates were not dated, as they were signed in advance by both CJRT and Alan Lee before being mailed over the Atlantic. The UK bookplates signed by CJRT in advance were signed by Alan Lee in person, and all dated (I believe) by Alan Lee.

Other CoH signings done just by Alan Lee he has always dated the signature, to my knowledge.