Congratulations to your uncle!
What a lucky find. :)

I didn't, at first, read who opened this thread & thought "lucky b^$tard" (--excuse the language; it's what I thought!) But then I went back & noticed it was Trotter that posted it. You've got to be kidding!? You already have a Tolkien signature, so don't be greedy. garm, Beren --you can both beat it too, as you have plenty already! Is this for real Trotter?

BH

Oh, tush! - one can never have too many... besides, you can always try for the Johnson Society menu. A very pretty piece
(it also has the sig. of H.F.B. Brett-Smith, Tolkien's fellow member of the 'Cave'; he's also the bod who gave CS Lewis his Viva Voce in 1919). So, two for the price of one!

Yeh, it's in pencil though; which just isn't quite what you'd like. Besides, I don't want two for the price of one. I'd prefer one (Tolkien) for the price of half of one; which would be a half, of whatever that price was!

BH

Here's a story, which only collectors would appreciate - you know how Jarrolds messed up the printing of the 2nd imp. of FotR? Yes, you do! Back in December '54.

Well, one of the things they did was to switch the places of the contents page and the 'Ring verse' page. Which favoured a book dealer I know - several years ago he popped into a 2nd hand bookshop and picked up a copy of this edition, marked £10.00. He flicked through, and was astonished to find Tolkien's signature under the Ring verse, which in the 2nd imp. comes after the foreword, instead of opposite the copyright page, as in every other impression! Hence the shop-owner didn't spot it when he checked the book's date.

Talk about luck!

So, my friend walks nonchalantly up to the counter; the bookshop owner asks, 'Are you a dealer?' (my friend did have rather a lot of other purchases with him). He answered 'Yes' - and got 10% off!

Talk about a lucky break...