To return to the posts by Onónion and Gawain on 2 June about the Sigurd and Gudrun with cover art by Arthur Rackham, we've just had the annoying experience of ordering one of these from a German seller on eBay, only to receive the HarperCollins trade paperback with the standard cover. We complained that the book isn't as represented, and were offered half of our cost as a refund. In an apology, the seller (a firm) said that it relies on its suppliers to provide descriptions and images, rather than producing them from copies in hand. We've suggested that in future they should include a disclaimer to this effect.

Other sellers on eBay have also listed copies with the Rackham cover. We supposed from the location of the sellers, Germany and Australia, that it was either a book club edition or one printed solely for export, but now we wonder if any copies ever had that cover, if the art was preliminary and ultimately rejected but got out for advertising purposes.

Wayne & Christina

I noticed this auction today

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JRR-Tolkien-Hob ... ks_UK&hash=item5888593a29

It is nice to be able to refer to such excellent resources as "J.R.R. Tolkien - A Descriptive Bibliography" by Wayne G. Hammond and Douglas Anderson and send them an email stating

"I noticed you listed this item as "leather bound", it is actually bound "in green imitation leather over boards" according to "J.R.R. Tolkien - A Descriptive Bibliography" by Wayne G. Hammond and Douglas Anderson Page 59, and is confirmed by looking at my copy.

Regards

Andrew"

I forgot to mention no dust wrapper

Here is another interesting item currently listed on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Return-King-2nd-Ed ... tible&hash=item2eae272ab0

This fake from one of eBay's notorious sellers has been on eBay before, I have reported it again to eBay as a forged signed item.

How do you tell this one is a fake? (genuine question!)