Yes, that is surprising and very disappointing.
Wonder what led to that decision ?

It is of course not correct... and I am sure that some copies will leave the UK continent. I'm not amazed, seen it happen before when for example Tolkien.co.uk run a contest it is always only UK residents that are allowed to enter, but here it will be different. Since I was promised by HC that through this way I'd be able to buy a copy and I don't see why David Brawn would lie about it.

I'm glad to hear that they will be available to those outside the UK. I'll believe you over someone at the Tolkien forums any day!

Any idea if they will impose a limit of number of copies per buyer? (Not that I think very many people will be able to afford one, let alone more than one, but there are some people out there who might snap up quite a few on speculation. Not me... Have a hard enough time getting one for myself on my current budget.)

well, if i'm able to buy more then one copy (which I doubt is allowed) I'll buy a stock of ten or so. I can't afford it either, but believe it to be a good investment. The book looks brillliant!

I have just ordered my copy through the website. They seem to allow up to two copies each, and it only seems to take orders from the British Isles - but I didn't investigate this in any great depth.