From the seller, "All three volumes are fine, obviously unread copies." Is that a cat jumping over a black rider? I do say!

http://cgi.ebay.com/J-R-R-TOLKIEN-Lor ... 53e7a06dc3#ht_2743wt_1139

What do you all think of this one? Very strange to me to see a 'flat signed' CoH out there. Signature looks almost good, but pretty dodgy, if you ask me. It's a bit too loopy for me to believe it is Christopher Tolkien's hand.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SIGNED-J-R-R-Tolk ... 5643e2a137#ht_2470wt_1163

Greetings, everyone. I have listed for sale on ebay, the unabridged audio books for The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. They are all CD format. They are in great shape, as they were only listened to once and well cared for during that time. The shrink wrap is still on them, but it has been opened just enough to get at the cd's. I have them listed as 'buy it now or best offer.'

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/alpinebooks/m. ... from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

No, Laurel, I am not sending them back. They came from the UK and I am in the US. The way the postal system has been operating due to US Homeland Security over the last six months or so, everything I have purchased from the UK has taken a minimum of 30 days to arrive (even airmail packages). As I said, the books themselves are in fantastic condition, and I think well worth the money.

Great rewards of bargain hunting always come with inherent risks. All part of the fun!

P.S. Anyone looking for a nice set of laminated dust jackets?

Well, I was initially going to post this under "Lucky Finds," but now that I have received the books, I think it is appropriate to post here. I caught a buy it now ebay listing for a very nice 1963 A&U set of LotR with original jackets for 50GBP! Great deal, right? Well, yes, and no. I will maintain that it was a great deal because the books themselved are really near fine condition.... and, the jackets are perfectly in tact. The ebay listing stated that they were in protective plastic film, so I assumed they would be in good shape. Turns out, they were indeed in protective plastic film, because they are laminated! LAMINATED DUST JACKETS!!! The lamination has caused the inks to bleed, creating a sort of 'ghosting' appearance around all the print. LAMINATED DUST JACKETS!!! UGGHHH!! What a way to ruin a nice set. It may have originally been well intended, but..... UGGHHH!!