I am researching the early publishing history of The Lord of the Rings at the moment and would be grateful if anybody can help out on the points below:

Do you have a 1963/1964 Allen & Unwin Deluxe edition? The 3 books are bound in black buckram and come in a slipcase illustrated by Pauline Baynes. If so, I would love to hear from you!


Do you have an Allen & Unwin Second Edition copy of any of the three volumes? I am looking for details for copies published between 1968 and 1978.

I need to know who is the PRINTER - Jarrold or Unwin Brothers, or maybe somebody else.
Also what price appears on the front flap of the dust jacket?


Has anybody seen a Readers Union set in a slipcase?


Has anybody got any 1963 Allen & Unwin impressions of the 3 volumes? I am interested to know if the dust jackets are price clipped, or what price they show. Also do they show the correct impression number on the front flap.

Any help would be appreciated.

Don't know what happened to the last post. Trying again....

Hi Deagol,

With regards to the 2nd Edition Lord of the Rings. Here is the info from the Volumes I have published between 1968 and 1978

1971 ROTK6th Imp. Price Sticker stating ‘£2.25 net George Allen & Unwin’
Under the Price Sticker there is a Printed Price (or Possibly another Price Sticker) which I can barely make out. It definitely starts with a 1 and ends in a 5. I think it is £1.25, but could be Wrong. The Price Sticker could be correcting a misprinted price or maybe an increase in price at some point before the 7th Impression was issued in 1973.
Printed by Jarrold & Sons.


1973 TTT7th Imp. £2.50 William Clowes (3rd DJ Design)
1973 ROTK7th Imp. £2.50 William Clowes (3rd DJ Design)

1974 FOTR8th Imp. £2.75 William Clowes
1974 TTT8th Imp. £2.75 William Clowes
1974 ROTK8th Imp. £2.75 William Clowes

1978 FOTR10th Imp. £4.95 William Clowes

1978 ROTK10th Imp. Price Sticker stating ‘£5.50 net George Allen & Unwin’. No Sign of a Printed Price. Printed by Unwin Brothers

Then from the 1978 Lord of the Rings Boxset

1978 FOTR 10th Imp. £4.95 William Clowes
1978 TTT9th Imp. £4.95 William Clowes
1978 ROTK9th Imp. £4.95 William Clowes

Hope this info is of some help.

I have a 10th impression (1963) of ROTK. Unfortunately the dustjacket says 11th impression (unclipped, 25s net on front flap, trilogy advertised 8vo 25s net each on rear flap. There is no "price per set" on the rear flap like some earlier (1960) impressions I have). Matching age wear says this dustjacket is original to the book, though.

Jeremy

I have the 4th Impression 1969 of the GA&U 2nd Edition LOTR. The price is 25 shillings (printed on the dustwrapper) and all three volumes are printed by Jarrold and Son.

Thanks for all the info. It will go into the melting pot with all the other titbits I have acquired. If anybody else has any of the books mentioned above I would love to hear from you.

Jeremy - I was hoping somebody would come up with a 1963 Impression in a later jacket. In December 1964 A&U asked Jarrolds to re-price all the bound stock, but the correspondence is unclear whether this was by clipping or re-jacketing. It would be nice to find a few more copies though, just to to confirm this...