Hi Deagol,

The 1979 Bakshi States 'Second Impression 1979'.

The 1982 Baynes Cover States 'Reprinted 1979, 1982'.

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes!

1979 (Bakshi Cover) 2nd Impression £2.95

1978 (Baynes Cover) 1st Impression £4.95
1979 (Baynes Cover) 3rd Impression £4.95
1982 (Baynes Cover) 4th Impression £5.50

I will dig out my Bakshi cover tomorrow.

Good Luck!

I am sure there are many others with similiar sentiments. However, if you are a collector and you want a Bookplated Edition for the collection, then the reality is that you just have to purchase one. They will become very scarce in the near future.

In general, the vast majority of people selling on ebay are honest and it is mostly easy enough to determine the fakes (but not always). And if you use a Credit Card or Paypal to purchase, then if after receving the book, you determine it is not genuine, then you will be covered by your Credit Card guarantee. As far as I can tell, I have only seen a few fakes on Ebay so far.

But if you are looking at it from purely an investment point of view, then you may well be right. Hard to tell where prices will go in the future. But for me, the most important thing is having a copy that I believe to be genuine. The future value doesn't really matter much to me (though obviously it is nice bonus to see prices of editions you possess rise in value).

All IMHO.

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.