21 Mar
2023/3/21 15:48:23 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
The following image was sent to Brian Sibley, and there's been an entertaining conversation over on Facebook about it. Both Jane Johnson and David Fielder (of GA&U at the time) claim no memory of it actually being produced. It also isn't listed at TolkienBooks.net, and there are issues with the logos not being correct for the time, etc.
The book is listed on
AndyBirdUK's page as being a "Special Edition for the launch".
https://tolkienvisualcollectingguide.blogspot.com/search/label/BBCI'm also fairly certain it is a modern digital mock-up, but if anyone else has thoughts or knowledge I'd love to hear!
21 Mar
2023/3/21 15:57:22 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
As you point out the logo looks wrong, the Unwin logo would have probably just been on the spine in 1981 and not on the front of the book, that location happened from about 1984 on.
I think it is a mock-up for a potential book, possibly made by the BBC and not Unwin paperbacks, or Photoshop wishful thinking.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 16:10:21 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
As Jane Johnson pointed out, there's no way the Estate would ever have allowed just "Tolkien" on the cover at that time, as well.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 16:16:06 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
Had another think, and both my comment and Jane's comment both seem to be proved wrong by this edition. They could probably just have added some smaller text stating Tolkien's full name to get the Estate to have approved it.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 16:30:14 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
That's a good edition to compare with (and likely what the theoretical photoshop person used as a reference).
It does have "J.R.R. Tolkien" on the front cover, to cover Jane's statement. The Unwin logo seems ok. Someone else has pointed out that the BBC did not use their logo on media tie-in covers (using Doctor Who covers as examples) until much later in the 1980s.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 16:57:34 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
Urulókë wrote:
Someone else has pointed out that the BBC did not use their logo on media tie-in covers (using Doctor Who covers as examples) until much later in the 1980s.
I can't add anything more than you guys have except to support this assessment. I just gandered through my BBC books (of which I have a lot related to natural history) and almost all of them are not logo'ed. This continued in certain areas much later than the 1980s too.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 17:36:33 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
It was me who asked Brian Sibley about it, I found the image some time ago but cannot locate it again and was trying to find out if it was real. I should have asked about it here really. I asked Brian because I thought, if it was real, he might have come across it at some promotional event.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 18:27:27 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
AndyBirdUK wrote:
It was me who asked Brian Sibley about it, I found the image some time ago but cannot locate it again and was trying to find out if it was real. I should have asked about it here really. I asked Brian because I thought, if it was real, he might have come across it at some promotional event.
I'm really glad you asked! It was a fascinating conversation over there that had responses from people who aren't here that I loved seeing.
21 Mar
2023/3/21 18:44:18 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
Can I ask where on Facebook this was?
21 Mar
2023/3/21 18:50:01 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca, Monrovia
AndyBirdUK wrote:
Can I ask where on Facebook this was?
It was on his personal account (so friends only viewable).
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