Also, "Letters from Father Christmas." But don't worry, here's a cheap copy for sale:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Easton-Press- ... m2c5f78ca35#ht_499wt_1412

I will agree with Khamul that this seller is fairly reliable. The name looked familiar to me, so I searched my purchase history. I had one transaction with this seller (assuming that we are talking about the seller in Khamul's link) back in February of this year. I made a 100GBP purchase from him and everything went smoothly. He has 100% positive feedback on nearly 500 ebay transactions, so I would tend to think he's ok. If you are in doubt, ask for pictures of the actual book you will receive, request an invoice be sent through paypal, and pay with a credit card that has good buyer protection. I would think you would be covered between paypal and your credit card if anything fraudulent were to occur. Whatever you decide, good luck in your book hunting!

Regards,
Steve

Stu, I agree with you. I have number 265 of S&G, but I don't think it means much. Case in point - At the time I picked up the S&G, I also got #490 and #492 of CoH. I bought those in November 2010 when they still had the 3 for 2 deal. The funny thing is, I live in the US, and when I bought those two CoH's, everything was taking over a month to get here from the UK due to some US Homeland Defense thing forcing most things to go surface mail. When I purchased these, they arrived at my house in like three days! It leads me to believe that HC might send a bunch of these super deluxes over here to then be distributed more quickly and cheaply (from a distribution center, maybe?). Maybe the pile they sent over here were something like #450 to #500? At the release date of these books, I know that was not the case, as I got a much lower number S&G (in the 40's I think), and #34 and 35 of CoH here in the US. But I do wonder if I would continue to get high numbers if I bought more of these here.

I have to agree that "Most" of the S&G are still available. I'd guess only a couple hundred, at best, have sold. However, I'd be surprised if there were more than 100 CoH's left for sale. I mean, geez, this thing has been for sale for coming on 4 years. The trade editions were fairly good sellers, and they had quite a bit of hype for the super deluxe edition with the then new website and forum. The other thing CoH has going for it, is that it is Middle Earth. I'll even admit that, although I own it in standard deluxe and super deluxe, I have still never finished reading S&G. So, based on the numbers I have seen, my guess would be between 50 and 100 copies remaining.

I have an idea how we can get a definitive answer. Why doesn't someone order a hundred of these things, and see how many you actually get!

Sir Tulip is selling a "Samarillion!"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tolkien-Samar ... m4aae018e40#ht_500wt_1361

If in good condition, with dust jacket, absolutely. If it is badly beaten (missing pages, tears, loose binding, etc.), it might not be as great a deal, but if it is in tact and just a bit worn, it is not bad at all. If the dust jacket is complete and in decent shape, that alone is of value. In fact, I've got a copy missing a jacket and would probably pay that much to add one to it. Nice find!