Earl, that's exactly how I feel. I have spent some money on gathering the Deluxe 1st prints and now this happens. The only good thing about having pre-ordered is that they slashed the price at some point so I paid around £40 for it.

Don't get me wrong, I still think the rest of the Deluxe 1st prints are worth collecting and I'm very happy to have them. This one simply does not belong to that collection.

I think there's a good chance for the regular Beren and Luthien hardback to be printed in Italy or UK since it will sell much better than Kullervo (so they will have a larger 1st print).

I forget, are we expecting a Deluxe Secret Vice and/or Lay of Aotrou and Itroun before Beren and Luthien or are those yet to be announced?

As far as I know, TBA.

Karl wrote:
I forget, are we expecting a Deluxe Secret Vice and/or Lay of Aotrou and Itroun before Beren and Luthien or are those yet to be announced?

I expect both will come out next year, but probably after Beren and Luthien as the Deluxe for that is in May of next year.

Earl wrote:

I guess my feeling is I would like to have a collection comprising either:

1. All first editions printed and bound in Italy or UK.
2. All non-first editions printed and bound in China.

I think it would annoy the heck out of me to have the one Chinese edition stick out in a collection of superior firsts. That's just me though.

And let's hope they don't go this route for the new Beren and Luthien deluxe edition.

I know what you are saying, but I would say just avoid this particular title. It would be a bit crazy to want the poor quality Chinese ones, just for perceived uniformity of the set!

Well other than the slipcase not having a smooth curve, do we know if there are other quality issues with Kullervo? Trotter stated it looked nice, but some would be disappointed it was printed in China.

Nothing about paper or binding quality or anything else that would immediately put it into the same quality as some others printed in China. Not everything printed over there is horrible, just like not everything printed in the UK or Italy is perfect.

I remember lots of angst over TFtPR and that was printed in the UK by Clays and 1st prints of The Silmarillion were plagued with the crease on the spine and that was done by L.E.G.O. in Italy.

Good points, Stu and Velmeran. Food for (my) thought

We're finally back in the U.S. Both islands were stunning, but the 50-60 waterfalls we saw spilling down literally every crack of rock on a rainy day in Milford is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen (yes, I know that was a terribly constructed statement but I only got three hours of sleep last night -- was in the ER with my wife overnight because she's been having digestive problems since we returned.) We want to come back; we'd actually move there next year when our lease is up in Brooklyn if it wasn't for the ban on importing pet birds. Oh, well. Long term goals!

Now to bring this back to the current discussion -- would anyone recommend buying a deluxe UK edition of Beren and Lúthien and pairing it with a standard U.S. release? I'd like to get the book in hand ASAP, but I also don't want to miss the deluxe edition this time. I still absolutely adore Children of Húrin, and am regretting not buying that deluxe edition when it was more reasonably priced (though I was also working at a book store in California at the time, so I had a copy a couple weeks early. Probably why I didn't spring for the imported deluxe edition.)

I have the U.S. deluxe Children of Húrin, and because of that I started collecting some of the other Deluxe editions of other new releases from the U.K. I will probably just hang onto the CoH that I have, despite the spine title orientation (is there anything else to complain about?), and swallow my OCD.

I wouldn’t be super surprised if they did a U.S. deluxe for Beren and Lúthien, would you?

Here is another question, about the deluxe Jemima Catlin Hobbit — does it have the same problem of later printings being done in China?

Ulmo wrote:
I have the U.S. deluxe Children of Húrin, and because of that I started collecting some of the other Deluxe editions of other new releases from the U.K. I will probably just hang onto the CoH that I have, despite the spine title orientation (is there anything else to complain about?), and swallow my OCD.

I wouldn’t be super surprised if they did a U.S. deluxe for Beren and Lúthien, would you?

Here is another question, about the deluxe Jemima Catlin Hobbit — does it have the same problem of later printings being done in China?

I believe even the first printings of the Catlin Hobbit are Chinese. The printer is not stated, but it has all the Hallmarks of earlier Chinese editions (glossy paper, etc). The deluxe is essentially identical to the standard edition, bar slipcase and the colouring of the binding. It is basically an expensive clipcase :)