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1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 1:50:41 PM UTC
Identifying the impression on US first ed. LotR seems to be a common problem. I have a copy of The Fellowship (w/o DJ, unfortunately) that has no date anywhere to be found. The verso of the title page is blank, except for "Printed in Great Britain." I am wondering if there is a similar "key" for determining the printing as Deagol has provided for the Two Towers. Is there anywhere other than back issues of the Tolkien Collector that this information can be found? I would certainly appreciate any help with this one.
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 8:24:31 PM UTC
Putting together an illustrated guide to identifying HM printings of LR has been on my to-do list for a long time... I'll get onto it one day...

Here is a brief guide for The Fellowship of the Ring - again this comes from an article by Steve Frisby in The Tolkien Collector:

[On Hold -Jeremy]

Did you find your copy???!!!
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 8:51:02 PM UTC
Finally, here is the guide for The Return of the King. This is a slightly reduced version of Steve Frisby's guide in The Tolkien Collector - I have cut out the steps for the printings that were not issued by HM.

The full guides can be found in issues 20-22 of TC. There is a lot more info to be found in them - essential reading for anybody interested in early printings of LR - British and American editions.

[On Hold -Jeremy]

For more info on which impressions HM imported from the UK see my article at TolkienBooks.net.
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 8:57:22 PM UTC
Many thanks, Deagol. I really appreciate the detailed and incredibly informative response. I am somewhat amazed that anyone has figured this out at all. As I was reading it, I was beginning to think I would have to decode anagrams or solve some puzzle with Fibonacci numbers that would lead me to the answer. Anyway, thanks again. I will have to check on which printing I have later tonight as I am not with my books at present.

Also, I would like to say that this forum has to be one of the best references a Tolkien collector can have. I have many times come here for some obscure bit of information that I feared I would struggle to find, but someone has always come through. There truly is a wealth of knowledge at the Tolkien Collector's Guide.
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 10:59:29 PM UTC
Khamul wrote:

(Get a move on Wayne & Christina!)

We're out of town at the moment, but will deal with back issues when we return.

Meanwhile, may we respectfully ask if permission was granted by Steve Frisby -- or sought from the Tolkien Collector -- before large parts of his copyrighted articles were posted in this thread?

Wayne & Christina
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 11:32:10 PM UTC
Hi Wayne & Christina,

I have emailled yourself and Steve several times over the past few years, but never got a response, yea or nea. The articles have been unavailable for quite some time and I get a steady trickle of queries about identifying early printings. Rather than send people away with a sorry can't help answer, it just seems more useful to let them have a shortened version of the guides. Once you have TC back in print I will of course point people in your direction to obtain back issues.

If having the text here is a problem I am sure that Jeremy will delete/edit as required.
1 Dec, 2008
2008-12-1 11:54:10 PM UTC
Purely tongue in cheek Findegil!

I was (jokingly) going to query whether this fell under 'fair use' Deagol!; but it seems probably not...

BH
2 Dec, 2008
2008-12-2 6:51:29 AM UTC
Deagol, although we admit to not being the best of correspondents over the past few years, while finishing complicated books and household renovations and dealing with health issues, according to our files we've happily answered a number of your messages, none of which (that we received, anyway) was a request to post a version of Steve's guides. (Of course, we can't speak for Steve, who we know has moved house and jobs in recent years and is relatively less active in Tolkien circles.) In any case, neither the lack of a reply nor the fact that something is temporarily out of print is justification for posting copyrighted material without permission to a public site, as opposed to private communication. The privilege of putting Steve's articles on the Web, if it were to be done, should be his, and ours.

Khamul, we did take your comment as tongue in cheek. We get a lot of requests for back issues -- just about every new subscriber wants the complete set (oh, these collectors!) -- and will honour them as soon as possible. Since the Tolkien Collector went on hiatus at the end of 2002, we've changed computer hardware and software, and our original setup became functionally obsolete. So Wayne is having to shift and revise all of the files, which takes time but will make reprinting much easier when it's all done.

Wayne & Christina
2 Dec, 2008
2008-12-2 7:00:35 AM UTC
Sorry Findegil and Deagol,

I meant to follow up on this faster. The material in this thread is currently offline. Moving to email to discuss further.

Jeremy
2 Dec, 2008
2008-12-2 12:15:46 PM UTC
That's alrighty then! With that cold blue coloured quotation, I was imagining an angry Hammond banging away on his keyboard! (-did you ever have a Hammond typewriter before computers?...)

...But if the software has to change (perhaps with format changes); mabey different paper too; and these were always going to be 'reprints'; that means these back issues are really going to be second state! ( ) What's a collector to do!?

oh, these collectors! Yeh! I wonder what kind of people encourage these kind of folk! Publishing magazines and books of publishing and printing minutiae; feeding their secret vice...

BH
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