Dear Trotter,

I am sorry, after a better inspection the dust jacket is more grey (80%) than brown (20%), while the flaps are even complete grey.

Regards,
Sigi

Dear Trotter,

Thanks for clearing that up. I still don't understand why the 'expert' I asked advice from, still keeps claiming the dust jackets were brown; mayb he doesn't expect any copies of RotK/LotR with jackets being light-grey?

I asked the same question on Tolkienbooks.net to get a definite answer, but I am starting to think my copy of RotK is in such a fine condition that the dust jacket is for 50% light-grey and for 50% brown-faded around the text/pictures ...

Kind regards,
Sigi

Last week I acquired a first edition/printing of The Return of the King, with a fine condition and the dust jacket being even in VF condition after close inspection.

Yesterday I let an expert (Rene van Rossenberg, one of the major Tolkien collector's in the Netherlands, he owns a Tolkien store/museum) look at it and his conclusion was that it really is a first edition/printing, but the only thing that troubles him is the colour of the dust jacket. The jacket is made from an old and genuine material (smells 'old' too), but the colour is more light-grey than light-brown, altho the areas around the text are brown-faded.

The private collector I got the book from claims the dust jackets of all first editions (atleast LotR) were grey, while Rene van Rossenberg claims they were all brown.

So who tells the truth now? I hope someone can help me with this.
Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Sigi