FAKE!!!

I have put some pages together now, but I am still a little unsure about the post-1994 editions.

www.tolkienbooks.net/html/1974-1976_24.htm

Booksellers descriptions are proving to be most unreliable!

The ebay copy appears to have blue on the upper cover, so I'm inclined to think that the spine is just faded.

When I compiled the page at tolkienbooks.net I was careful to be uncommital about which variants would be the earliest. I think that the clipping of the text on page 234 may well be down to something becoming misaligned during the printing process then being corrected again - so it may not be as simple as 1st state/2nd state. You would need to find a proof or advance reading copy to be sure what the true first state is. Has anybody ever seen one for UT?

The jacket is even more contentious. I am not at all convinced that this is a real variant. I think that it is quite possible that it may be just a result of the fading of the blue ink - even on the front flap.

Does anybody have a copy of Les Aventures de Tom Bombadil? This is the French translation of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. It reproduces a couple of manuscript pages written by Tolkien giving variant versions of a couple of Elvish verses and an extract from the Council of Elrond.

I am trying to add details of miscellaneous writings and manuscripts by Tolkien to my bibliography and am having a little trouble getting the details of the various editions of this book straight.

Any help would be appreciated.

Deagol

at least nobody go burned this time!