What a lovely set of hardback LOTR editions!

Mr. Underhill wrote:

All acquisitions are worthy if you're happy with it

Amen to that, and with that in mind...

I'd been looking for a nice set of the HC 3-volume paperbacks from the early/mid 1990s, as I feel such an affinity with them - they're what I picture (on the shelves at W.H. Smith!) when I think of Tolkien and my younger self. I just love the John Howe covers, and the 1-volume edition (with Gandalf on the cover) was the edition I first read.

So I was happy to get these - the slipcase is a little stained and chipped (though the slipcase wasn't a must-have) but the nicest thing is that the spines aren't cracked at all.

Which might not last since I think these might turn into reading copies

These are nice copies, the red on the spines fades a lot with these, but your copies seem to have escaped that fate.

Tiny Turtle wrote:

Dagoth wrote:

Very nice!

I’ve been looking for one for a while. Where did you buy this one from? Also curious what you paid if I may.

I bought it from a bookshop in Canterbury for just over £300 for them which seemed reasonable considering their condition. I have no idea if that's their market value, I just couldn't resist and would have paid more.

Roccondil wrote:

That's a very nice set - as good as any you might hope to find. You're building a good range of UK LOTR hardbacks. What impressions are your first editions?

Thanks :) They're 8/7/7 and are in very nice condition, the dust jackets have some spotting and are slightly tanned especially on the spine but the books are wonderful: the red on top of the pages is really vibrant and they have very little foxing and no inscriptions or map tears.

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

Dagoth wrote:

Tiny Turtle wrote:

I bought it from a bookshop in Canterbury for just over £300 for them which seemed reasonable considering their condition.

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

UK Pounds(£) & Euros(€) are not the same currency, a £ is currently €1.13 Euros. I have bought lots of items from the US, but I don't live there, not sure what the issue is.

Dagoth wrote:

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

Not sure what you mean by this, living in Europe is not an advantage for getting your hands on an RU set. These sets were produced in the UK and have sense been dispersed all over the world to various buyers over the decades. Unless you have evidence that there is a large number of these sets concentrated in Europe, your statement makes no sense.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Dagoth wrote:

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

Not sure what you mean by this, living in Europe is not an advantage for getting your hands on an RU set. These sets were produced in the UK and have sense been dispersed all over the world to various buyers over the decades. Unless you have evidence that there is a large number of these sets concentrated in Europe, your statement makes no sense.

I rarely find Tolkien in book stores in America. At least Florida. And if I do it’s 1980s paperbacks. Is it really wrong to say early edition Tolkien is more widely available in the UK? And AFAIK the Readers Union edition was only sold to… members of the Readers Union, which was a book club established in Cambridge, so copies that have not “been dispersed all over the world” are probably still there and will find their way into second hand shops.

True you say, a lot of them have moved throughout the world, but one would still assume you’re more likely to see a readers Union set pop up at a bookstore in Canterbury than you will in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dagoth wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Dagoth wrote:

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

Not sure what you mean by this, living in Europe is not an advantage for getting your hands on an RU set. These sets were produced in the UK and have sense been dispersed all over the world to various buyers over the decades. Unless you have evidence that there is a large number of these sets concentrated in Europe, your statement makes no sense.

I rarely find Tolkien in book stores in America. At least Florida. And if I do it’s 1980s paperbacks. Is it really wrong to say early edition Tolkien is more widely available in the UK? And AFAIK the Readers Union edition was only sold to… members of the Readers Union, which was a book club established in Cambridge, so copies that have not “been dispersed all over the world” are probably still there and will find their way into second hand shops.

True you say, a lot of them have moved throughout the world, but one would still assume you’re more likely to see a readers Union set pop up at a bookstore in Canterbury than you will in Jacksonville, Florida.

It's not wrong, it's not right either. It's just conjecture so it's not really helpful to make statements like "luxury of living in place A (Europe an enormous book market) as opposed to place B (Florida much smaller book market)" saying you haven't found one just popping into bookstores in place B doesn't really support your argument as you are making an apples to oranges statement. Also where is your data to back up this broad statement? Have you been to bookstores in Europe? Have you been to bookstores all over Florida?

"One would still assume your more likely to see this in place A than place B" why would you assume that? What evidence or experience backs that up? If you're going to make these broad statements like that you should elaborate with actual reasoning...as opposed to assumptions and conjecture without fact.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Dagoth wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Dagoth wrote:

300 euro is an incredible price. I’m offering 650 for a good set but I also don’t have the luxury of living in Europe.

Not sure what you mean by this, living in Europe is not an advantage for getting your hands on an RU set. These sets were produced in the UK and have sense been dispersed all over the world to various buyers over the decades. Unless you have evidence that there is a large number of these sets concentrated in Europe, your statement makes no sense.

I rarely find Tolkien in book stores in America. At least Florida. And if I do it’s 1980s paperbacks. Is it really wrong to say early edition Tolkien is more widely available in the UK? And AFAIK the Readers Union edition was only sold to… members of the Readers Union, which was a book club established in Cambridge, so copies that have not “been dispersed all over the world” are probably still there and will find their way into second hand shops.

True you say, a lot of them have moved throughout the world, but one would still assume you’re more likely to see a readers Union set pop up at a bookstore in Canterbury than you will in Jacksonville, Florida.

It's not wrong, it's not right either. It's just conjecture so it's not really helpful to make statements like "luxury of living in place A (Europe an enormous book market) as opposed to place B (Florida much smaller book market)" saying you haven't found one just popping into bookstores in place B doesn't really support your argument as you are making an apples to oranges statement. Also where is your data to back up this broad statement? Have you been to bookstores in Europe? Have you been to bookstores all over Florida?

"One would still assume your more likely to see this in place A than place B" why would you assume that? What evidence or experience backs that up? If you're going to make these broad statements like that you should elaborate with actual reasoning...as opposed to assumptions and conjecture without fact.

I’m just not going to post anymore. I grow weary of these constant bickerings.

One search on eBay for 1st edition GA&U Tolkien will show almost all of it is listed from overseas. Doesn’t matter if it’s found it’s way into the states and into collector’s hands. Do I need to write an essay for every off the cuff statement I make? This is a forum. If every comment is meant to be taken as a factual guide with cited and annotated sources I think you’ve misunderstood what a forum is supposed to be. Besides, the argument that it’s not vs the argument that it is in itself is an illogical fallacy. There’s no actual evidence for either, so both statements are incorrect.

Dagoth wrote:

I’m just not going to post anymore. I grow weary of these constant bickerings.

One search on eBay for 1st edition GA&U Tolkien will show almost all of it is listed from overseas. Doesn’t matter if it’s found it’s way into the states and into collector’s hands. Do I need to write an essay for every off the cuff statement I make? This is a forum. If every comment is meant to be taken as a factual guide with cited and annotated sources I think you’ve misunderstood what a forum is supposed to be. Besides, the argument that it’s not vs the argument that it is in itself is an illogical fallacy. There’s no actual evidence for either, so both statements are incorrect.

Just here to say I love the idea of an “illogical fallacy” ? Is that like a syllogism?

Not going to lie I completely made that up. ?