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Chinese Hobbit (one of the 2024 releases)

20 September (edited)
2024-9-20 4:02:00 AM UTC

I picked this up the other day. I don't collect translations really, except for Hobbits where they use a variation of the original jacket (which is actually very few if you discount Evertype -- and I don't care for those).

Jacket work is a bit sloppy - they wanted to put a gold/black surround on, but didn't really have room, so they had to cut the runes. They also horizontally compressed the spine to get the overall thing to fit in with the apsect ratio they were going for. Almost works. They didn't do the best digital cleanup of their source, so there is a bit of damage to their original that you can see on the spine (and more clearly in the included bookmark).

Overall I like it, it is a well made, cloth-bound sewn book. And I always love another Hobbit with Tolkien's jacket (or a variant thereof). Bought on aliexpress -came well wrapped in several layers of bubblewrap.

If you can find someone in China to buy it for you, they cost less than £4... (this cost me about 50 NZD delivered, so roughly £23)

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20 September
2024-9-20 5:54:14 AM UTC
You could also keep an eye on this https://old.reddit.com/r/tolkienbooks/ ... ition_part_6_perhaps_the/ if you want the original jacket. It is a ~£1 pocket book published last month, so probably not yet available overseas (at least not on Temu when I checked last week). The reddit user has been posting other Chinese new books as well.
20 September (edited)
2024-9-20 6:08:59 AM UTC

zionius wrote:

You could also keep an eye on this https://old.reddit.com/r/tolkienbooks/ ... ition_part_6_perhaps_the/ if you want the original jacket. It is a ~£1 pocket book published last month, so probably not yet available overseas (at least not on Temu when I checked last week). The reddit user has been posting other Chinese new books as well.

Thanks, yeah. I've my eye out for that one. Looks like the one I posted above is now on Temu (wasn't a couple of days ago) and only 20 NZD shipped. I should have waited!!!

https://www.temu.com/nz/-a----a-chines ... yf&_x_sessn_id=exykg6smlk
20 September
2024-9-20 12:50:30 PM UTC
Forgive my ignorance if this is obvious, but what is the elvish writing for on the reverse of the jacket blurb sheet?
20 September
2024-9-20 1:18:08 PM UTC

ǽc ælf wrote:

Forgive my ignorance if this is obvious, but what is the elvish writing for on the reverse of the jacket blurb sheet?

They just cut the rightmost 1/4 from the original jacket, and add the runes on the left side. So it is composed of 2 broken sentences.
20 September
2024-9-20 1:32:30 PM UTC
I tink what Oak Elf is asking about is Thorin’s tengwar letter, which you can read about here:

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Thorin%27s_letter
20 September
2024-9-20 2:02:11 PM UTC

Aelfwine wrote:

I tink what Oak Elf is asking about is Thorin’s tengwar letter, which you can read about here:

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Thorin%27s_letter

Yes, thank you! I haven't read History of the Hobbit, so makes sense why I hadn't seen it before now.
21 September
2024-9-21 11:20:15 AM UTC
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23 September
2024-9-23 7:27:18 AM UTC
I put in an order for the sprayed/printed edge version of the same edition using superbuy. Book was USD 5.94. Not sure how much shipping will be (or how the whole process will go). Couldn't buy via any other source as it shares the ISBN with the plain edge version. None of the West-facing Chinese websites had it listed.
25 September
2024-9-25 6:56:51 AM UTC
I picked up a Chinese Nasmith Silmarillion. Only 16 illustrations, but that means they are printed properly on gloss paper and interleaved with the text-paper signatures. Sewn binding. Cost about £10 delivered. I genuinely would be happier if HarperCollins were producing editions like this with less images, but printing them to a standard that they are worth printing. Really no comparison in the image quality here.




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