Thank you, finally it is not too expensive paid because I had no real reference apart from the one on sale on Abe but I did not use a single reference especially if it seems very high. for the quantity of printing, Ithildin, Tolkienbooks doesn't give much information so it remains rather vague ?

Here are some of my recent acquisitions from the last 5 months. Pretty prolific ! I've been lucky for some and ran into really nice finds for some very scarce ones.

- 1988 HB tree and leaf with the first publication of Mythopoeia UH NF
- 1990 The adventures of Tom Bombadil UH (first printing of this edition) NF
- 1987 boxset of Lord of the Rings UH, fine condition
- 1940, 1950 and 1954 impressions of Beowulf and the Finnsburg fragment
- Oxford Poetry 1915 (2nd imp.), Fifty new poems for Children (1st imp. 1922) and a 1st Edition of the Middle English Vocabulary (1922, 2nd variant)
- 1928 A New Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield District
- The Screwtapes letters; 1st Edition, 3rd impression with matching dust jacket
- a Near fine copy of the 1961 Puffin Hobbit (now protected with removable plastic sleeve)
- 1967 : 1st Edition of Smith of Wootton Major (with unfaded spine)
- 1974 Box set of the lord of the Rings paperback. Near Fine, unread with unfaded spines. (this is an Export 1st Edition with the sleave)
- HoME Index which I received 1 month ago (the jacket is well centered)
- A first printing of the 1997 Folio Society Hobbit, with an unfaded spine (which seems to be fairly seldom)
- 1997 lord of the rings, limited to 1000 copies, Fine
- 1999 Hobbit, limited to 2500 copies Fine
- 1997 Hatchards Hobbit, fine, a lovely copy, number 22 !
- And finally a little one which is not so easy to find these days : Smith of Wootton major, extended edition (2005)

Nice going, good stuff!

Damn, I've been looking for that non-pocket-sized Smith of Wootton Major. Where did you find it?

Philomythos wrote:

Damn, I've been looking for that non-pocket-sized Smith of Wootton Major. Where did you find it?

Found it on eBay (BIN, £15). Was lucky, this doesn't pop up very often (as the hardback edition of On Fairy stories, 2008). They were not printed at high amounts...
I have also spot some copies on Abe but in the £100 +/- range...

Emilien wrote:

Found it on eBay (BIN, £15). Was lucky, this doesn't pop up very often

Very lucky! I'm happy for you. I think. I dunno, I have a lot of feelings right now I need to process.

Emilien wrote:

as the hardback edition of On Fairy stories, 2008

I don't much care about hardback vs. softcover myself (though I understand why people do), as I typically only care about the content, rather than the presentation (unpopular opinion here, I realize), but I just really want the 2005 version of SWM because I can't stand these tiny "pocket" editions. Not good for reading.

Philomythos wrote:

I don't much care about hardback vs. softcover myself (though I understand why people do), as I typically only care about the content, rather than the presentation (unpopular opinion here, I realize), but I just really want the 2005 version of SWM because I can't stand these tiny "pocket" editions. Not good for reading.

This edition of SWM (as well as the 2008 edition of On Fairy stories - this later one is available in paperback) is very different from the first editions as it includes :
- the original text
- different essays and transcriptions, and suggestions for ending the story, based on Tolkien manuscripts which are reproduced here.

Regarding presentation VS content, I think the two are not antithetical, and I think a lot of fellows here care as much of the content as the presentation.

Emilien wrote:

Philomythos wrote:

I don't much care about hardback vs. softcover myself (though I understand why people do), as I typically only care about the content, rather than the presentation (unpopular opinion here, I realize), but I just really want the 2005 version of SWM because I can't stand these tiny "pocket" editions. Not good for reading.

This edition of SWM (as well as the 2008 edition of On Fairy stories - this later one is available in paperback) is very different from the first editions as it includes :
- the original text
- different essays and transcriptions, and suggestions for ending the story, based on Tolkien manuscripts which are reproduced here.

Yes, I know – I was referring to the pocket edition of the expanded version (ed. Flieger) that came out afterward (2015) and is now the only version readily available: see here.

The same goes for Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Roverandom, and Farmer Giles of Ham, and their four-in-one boxed set. These are the ones I don't like (the presentation, that is; the contents are great).

Philomythos wrote:

Yes, I know – I was referring to the pocket edition of the expanded version (ed. Flieger) that came out afterward (2015) and is now the only version readily available: see here.

Yes my mistake, I forgot the expanded version has been published in paperback as well.

Emilien wrote:

Yes my mistake, I forgot the expanded version has been published in paperback as well.

No worries. It's a hardcover, though, actually (roughly the size of the first edn. non-expanded).

Emilien wrote:

Regarding presentation VS content, I think the two are not antithetical, and I think a lot of fellows here care as much of the content as the presentation.

Oh I have no doubt of that, and certainly didn't mean to imply otherwise. I only meant that my general lack of concern for presentation/first printings/etc. seems atypical here, as most people seem to care about both content and character, as it were. And obviously, even I have my limits (certain things I don't want ex lib, for example).