Jan 15
(edited)Edited by Urulöké on 2019/1/16 15:49:28
Thanks to Mary on Facebook for sharing her (great!) find to
the Tolkien Society Facebook page (member's only if you are having trouble loading), and giving permission to share this picture of the bookplate her
1943 1942 third impression
Hobbit came with.
WITH MR. SIR STANLEY UNWIN'S COMPLIMENTS
Mrs. A. H. White
Jan 16
I saw that footnote - It does show it is possible that the fourth impression was not commercially available until late 1947, but I think it is also possible that they were binding all year long, and didn't issue the charge for the job until it was complete.
Still, I think we all agree that the third impression was likely still in stock and available for Stanley to give a copy out in 1946.
Jan 16
The binders tended to invoice at the end of the month. Key & Whiting were binding a lot of books for A&U and would have been submitting an invoice every month, so it seems odd that the binding of the whole 4th impression was charged at the same time. There are arguments both ways, but it seems reasonable to assume that the book was taken from current stock in 1946.
Jan 16
Thanks for that additional info Deagol. I'm more leaning towards them binding all of them end of 1947 based on your report that they invoice every month (based on just this thin evidence).
In any event, hope you all enjoyed the bookplate like I did.