Roccondil wrote:

Well, I've definitely got a blue deluxe Hobbit - its just the French one! The UK one is L.E.G.O. The other more green one I haven't yet taken out of the cellophane from whenever I got the 5-vol deluxe (when it came out a few years ago).

Your box set should have a 2nd Printing (Printing Express Hong Kong).

Years ago, reddit user /u/Berelach (not sure if that's the same as our Berelach) posted a collection photo with the 5-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset (ISBN: 9780007488209) in which I asked which about the impression of the set.

Sure, it came with The Hobbit: 2nd Printing (not stated but printed in Hong Kong), Lord of the Rings: 7th, Silmarillion: 2nd, Children of Hurin: 1st, Tales from the Perilous Realm: 1st.

While the books in the 4-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset containing 1st printings for Hob, Sil & CoH and either 2nd or 3rd printings for LotR.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

The colors do very for many of the volumes that have been in print for some time. Chalk it up to a variety of factors, like printers used, materials on hand, QC efforts and the like.

For example if you have a 1st Print S&G it's going to be a much darker shade of brown than a reprint which is a lighter shade of brown. There's also a much lighter shade variant of UT (almost matching the shade of TFPR) that was done for the 3rd printing. I can snap a couple of pics when I get home this afternoon(my time).

Following up on this, lots of small and large color variations among these volumes, not just The Hobbit
Pictured are the 1st and 3rd Prints of Unfinished Tales (big difference) and the 1st and 4th prints of Sigurd & Gudrun (small difference)




Also notice the mirroring of the slipcase logo

Velmeran wrote:

Roccondil wrote:

Well, I've definitely got a blue deluxe Hobbit - its just the French one! The UK one is L.E.G.O. The other more green one I haven't yet taken out of the cellophane from whenever I got the 5-vol deluxe (when it came out a few years ago).

Your box set should have a 2nd Printing (Printing Express Hong Kong).

Years ago, reddit user /u/Berelach (not sure if that's the same as our Berelach) posted a collection photo with the 5-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset (ISBN: 9780007488209) in which I asked which about the impression of the set.

Sure, it came with The Hobbit: 2nd Printing (not stated but printed in Hong Kong), Lord of the Rings: 7th, Silmarillion: 2nd, Children of Hurin: 1st, Tales from the Perilous Realm: 1st.

While the books in the 4-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset containing 1st printings for Hob, Sil & CoH and either 2nd or 3rd printings for LotR.

Thanks Velmeran. That is indeed the ISBN number - and now I know the printings of all the books, still without removing the cellophane!

Looks like the latest reprints of The Hobbit ‘04 deluxe are being printed by Graphicom. Wonder if the other deluxe reprints are as well…

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The Hobbit (Deluxe Slipcase Edition) by J.R.R. Tolkien Printed Italy

326321526773

Seller: gorgilla

(3041)

Ended Nov 15, 2024

This item ended more than 90 days ago

Emilien wrote:

So it seems the printing history of the Hobbit Deluxe Edition (2004) is becoming more complex as reprints increase:
- 1st print by L.E.G.O Italy (dark green tint, quarter 'faux' leather textured paper on the spine)
- 2nd print to ? by Printing Express Hong Kong (Saturated Grass green tint, quarter 'faux' leather textured paper on the spine)
- ? print to ? by RR Donnelly China (Saturated Grass green tint, quarter 'faux' leather textured paper on the spine)
- ? print to ? (at least 11th printing) back to L.E.G.O it seems (Dark green tint, non textured paper on spine)
- After 11th printing : Rotolito Italy (Dark 'military' green tint, non textured paper on spine). This printing restarted printing history claiming to be a first printing, which is not true. (copyright page states : 'Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2004' followed by a 'I' (Roman Capitals).

I just ordered this book off of AbeBooks, it delivered yesterday and I opened it up and thought "Wow, they sent me a first impression of a 2004 book for $75, new in its original packaging!" I knew it was too good to be true.

In the bookseller's defense, it was not advertised as a first impression.

rosshm16 wrote:

I got an actual first impression (at least I think it's so) of this Hobbit recently. Here it is side by side with what I think is the 11th impression from Rotolito. A couple differences I didn't see pointed out already in this thread:

• Not sure if it's obvious from the photo but the first impression is noticeably wider than the 11th, both the book itself and the slipcase. The first impression's slipcase is about a half-centimeter wider and the book itself about 4 mm wider.

• The first impression is about 5% heavier, 856 grams without the slipcase vs. 816, which I would guess is a good bit larger than copy-to-copy variation; paper quality?