I recently acquired a second copy of the 1991 HarperCollins Lord of the Rings Hardbacks with John Howe Covers in a red slipcase. This is the link to the item on Deagol's excellent site.

http://www.tolkienbooks.net/html/lotr-sc-hc_1.htm

I was suprised to notice that it was not the same size as my existing slipcase set and that there are at least two variants of this set.

One set is 11.2 cm (width of the slipcase) and is a light red colour.

My second set is 11.9 cm (width of the slipcase) and is a darker red colour.

I was also suprised to see that the books are not interchangeable as they are sized for the slipcases, so the books are also different widths. The books are not interchangeable as the slipcases are designed to fit the width of the books. It looks like the binder either fractionally increased or decreased the width of the books by a few millimeters during the binding process and so a second slipcase had to be made to accomodate. Internally they all show as first printings of this edition and are bound from the same sheets.

If anyone has one of these boxed sets, can you measure it as I am interested in finding out which width is the more common.

Andrew

I just measured both my sets. One 11.1cm and the other 11cm (the difference probably being due to the second one being tightly shrinkwrapped - If I measure the second set at the middle rather than the top of the slipcase, it measures 10.5cm - again due to the way the slipcase curves inward with the shrinkwrapping).

Interesting that there appears to be another variant. In any case my two seem to match your 11.2cm set.

Thanks Remy, I myself think the two copies that you have could be the more common examples.

I thought it may be useful to add some photos of both types. The second picture shows the colour difference.

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Do both of the sets have the centenary logo on the lower cover?

They both have the same logo's (Centenary Logo), including dustwrappers and slipcases.