Imagine you were given a blank slate, budget, and could get approval from the Estate (or other rights holders): What would you like to see published from HarperCollins?
It could be a deluxe or limited edition of one of Tolkien's works done to your tastes, or an obscure text or collection of texts that is long out of print, or... My only limitation is that it can't be speculative content e.g. "the long lost but complete sequel to Lord of the Rings".
I would *love* to have an official version of Songs for the Philologists, personally! Imagine the illustrations that could be added to those in a nice deluxe edition.
Without doubt (and maybe quite fanciful) I would like to see the Original Manuscripts for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit published in their entirety in a quality/deluxe format.
I know it would probably run to quite a number of volumes and cost a fortune (but one can dream).
I have in the back of my mind (but not 100% sure - may have been dreaming) that this was mooted many years ago - some mention of 30 volumes?? Can't remember anything more (and as I said - I may have been dreaming) - can anyone remember anything about this??
Songs for the Philologists done properly with commentary about everything, not just the Tolkien stuff. I think I'm still stuck at 40 pages on my unofficial commentary, so likely an official version will happen first :)
Once the last dribs and drabs have finally been published, I would like to see the complete works of JRRT published in full leather bindings, similar to the Virginia edition of the complete works of Robert Heinlein. $1300 for 46 volumes of decent quality.
Here's another vote for a second volume of letters. I wonder if the existing Letters will be added to the deluxe lineup. Little would surprise me at this point...
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