Could be from a very recent catastrophic rain & flood...
My box arrived from Blackwell's Aug 1; no map smudge.

As an added bonus this box accommodates the volumes with 2 mil Melinx jacket covers, if you are so inclined.

I was curious as to whether I could get some jacket covers on them & still get them in the slipcase. Think I'll do this at some point...

Thank you so much, this is my first message here. Congratulations to all of you as very expert in Tolkien works!

My name is Amedeo, I am Italian and I live in Prague.
I have always read LOTR and the Hobbit in Italian, but I would like reading them in English. I made a big deep dive inside LOTR editions, and I think the 2020 box set is perfect for me.

I would like just to be ensured about two things:
- are the Alan Lee illustrations well printed? Is the paper quality fine?
- I see that only that hardback edition has not got the two notes on the edition. Are they important? Do you know why Harper Collins put them in the soft back edition 2020 and not in the hardback one?

Anyhow, I am really interested in this edition. I have one volume edition of LOTR in italian, and having a three books with alan lee illustrations would be awesome. This seems the only one in three books with Alan Lee and the reset text after 2004 edition: is it correct?

Many thanks,
Amedeo

Sorry you have not an answer yet, you have two copies to look at I think

This one volume edition, which does not include The Hobbit https://www.tolkien.co.uk/products/the ... n-alan-lee-9780007525546/

and the new four volume slip-cased 60th Anniversary edition, https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/0008376107/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Both editions are very well printed, both paper quality and illustrations, the one volume edition contains both Notes on the Text, which are excluded from the four volume slip-cased edition. I would still get this one and if you are interested in the Notes on the Text, just buy a current UK paperback of The Fellowship of the Ring

Trotter wrote:

Both editions are very well printed, both paper quality and illustrations, the one volume edition contains both Notes on the Text, which are excluded from the four volume slip-cased edition. I would still get this one and if you are interested in the Notes on the Text, just buy a current UK paperback of The Fellowship of the Ring

Thank you so much Trotter,
I really appreciate it. At the end, I think I will skip those notes on the text. A bit disappointed about their missing, though, but I suppose they are not fundamental.

Do you know why they have not been pubblished in the hardcover, but they are present in the new paperback?

I will let you know when I will receive them,
Amedeo

Amedeo wrote:

Do you know why they have not been published in the hardcover, but they are present in the new paperback?

Don't know, but the Notes on the Text does not exist in early printings of the book, so if the publisher decides not to print them, then they can.

I might be late to the party but the new illustrated hardcover set looks really beautiful. However, the heartbreaking printing error on the map is extremely disappointing, and the exclusion of Notes on the Text is simply intolerable (for me).

However, I would like to know if a long surviving typo in The Hobbit has finally been corrected. On the Preface by CT, there's an Italian phrase that reads "In una caverna sorto terra...". The correct spelling is "In una caverna sotto terra...". Can anyone check whether this typo has finally been corrected?

This is the nicest edition to feature Alan Lee's artwork, end of story!

Morinehtar wrote:

I might be late to the party but the new illustrated hardcover set looks really beautiful. However, the heartbreaking printing error on the map is extremely disappointing, and the exclusion of Notes on the Text is simply intolerable (for me).

For what it's worth, I just received a second print set and it does not have the error on the map.