Thank you for the photo and the link! I had not seen that Hammond/Scull article though I have seen the article on their webpage regarding the 2004 edition. I had seen a post (maybe Mr. Underhill) mentioning about "2014 emendations" but seeing that copyright page is the first time I've seen something to suggest that. I would have expected it to be referenced in the 2014 60th Anniversary boxed set, but it was not. Interesting. I take it that the 2021 Deluxe and Trade "author-illustrated" editions should also have the same text? I'll go compare and see...

Here are some photos of my hodge-podge set of the larger/glossy 2002 illustrated LOTR (plus the Silmarillion and the Hobbit).
- Silmarillion (WM/HC, 18th printing, no year, "...in China by RR Donnelley APS) - purchased new on Amazon/US
- Hobbit (WM/HC, 15th printing, 2024, "Printed in India") - purchased new on Amazon/US
- Fellowship of the Ring (WM/HC, 14th printing, no year, Rotolito S.p.A.) - purchased new on Amazon/US
- Two Towers (Houghton Mifflin, 1st printing, no year, "Printed in China") - purchased from a 3rd party seller, totally the coolest of this bunch
- Return of the King (WM/HC, 7th printing, no year, "Papercraft Sdn Bhd, Malaysia") - purchased new on Amazon/US (seems to be the worst quality of all of these, I particularly dislike the faded orange color of the de-jacketed cover)

I'm not sure it's worth anything (maybe more than I paid for it?), but the Houghton Mifflin is nice. It came in very nice condition. Now I'd like to start looking for the HM copies to match lol.

You can also see the Deluxe Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Oh my goodness, these do look hodge-podge for sure and I do feel bad about recommending those, now. I was unaware of the changes in materials with this edition over the years. When I said this is the nicest AL-illustrated edition I own I was thinking of the HM clothbounds – expecting the WMs to be the same.

The Malaysian RotK needs to go straight back to Amazon. I'd also return the Fellowship – unless you'd like to try and find matching Rotolito-Versions of TT and RotK (which would give you a nicely coherent WM-collection). I'd recommend getting clothbounds though. They look and feel a lot nicer.

I got 1st impression sets of both the HM and the HC LotRs and paid around 50 € per Set within the last year. They are not hard to find and often in excellent condition as these heavy books don't lend themselves to being tossed around much and the glossy paper ages well.

My apologies for sending you in the hodge-podge-direction. That was not my intention.

Haha! Don't feel bad. Thank you very much for the information! In your post, you were steering me away from these items anyways.

I consider it my first foray into the "collecting world." Interesting experience. Also, my "collection" will never be very refined. I'm okay with some hodge-podge items. In retrospect I should have gone straight for a used box set. Instead, I saw the new items individually and thought that was a good option. Also, they happened to be included in a "buy 3 for price of 2" special, so that worked. I may still consider buying a used set down the road. For now, I managed to find copies of HM Two Towers and ROTK from 3rd party sellers and confirmed they are HM. Hopefully those will round out the HM set. I expect they will not be 1st impressions, though.

Thankfully, it wasn't a terribly big waste of money, even if I keep some editions. By the way, the photos of your jacket-less collection are quite nice. I can tell from your photos that the HC and HM editions have a different shade of red. The red of my HM (Two Towers) seems to match your HM set, and the red of my WM (FOTR) seems to match your HC set. I agree, my ROTK is just kind of pathetic, especially without the DJ. It still has a nice feel and binding is fine. I'm tempted to donate it to someone but there's a chance I will return it.... Are Malaysian editions known for poor quality in general with Tolkien books?

Also, I agree with you that the durability of these books and sets seems to be impressive. I'm sure the paper quality (that heavy, glossy paper) and larger size do help. I'll be back on when the HM books arrive.

I'd recommend getting clothbounds though. They look and feel a lot nicer.

Aren't all of these clothbound? Or are you thinking of just the HM? I want to make sure I understand your comment.

wiseSam wrote:

I can tell from your photos that the HC and HM editions have a different shade of red.

Are Malaysian editions known for poor quality in general with Tolkien books?

Aren't all of these clothbound? Or are you thinking of just the HM? I want to make sure I understand your comment.

I am not sure about Malaysian printings in general – I do not own any – but when you say it feels low quality when compared to the others I'd probably part with it right away instead of adding it to my ever-growing hoard, especially if a return is free and unproblematic. There are slight changes in quality between impressions from different printers all the time but other than the notorious 5th impression of the illustrated UT from Dubai I haven't owned any that my me steer away from a country of printing altogether.

When it comes to what's clothbound and what's not I'm probably a bit lost in translation. I only call books clothbound when the boards (and spine) are covered in actual cloth - like your deluxe Silmarillion and UT and the HM TT - as opposed to the (sometimes clothy looking) paper of the WM printings you got. When there is a chopice I will alwasy go for a real cloth because the paper edges are far more prone to damage (and I don't like dustwrappers at all :))

Thankfully, I was able to find reasonably nice copies of the Houghton Mifflin FOTR and ROTK to make a set. Both of them are also 1st printings, "Printed in China." I'm guessing these first printings are very common? Or did I get lucky to receive 1st printings of these books? I did not confirm the impression with the sellers before purchasing.

The current William Morrow (or Harper Collins) strategy makes no sense to me. Continuing to sell each LOTR book separately (without a set available) and then using printers that do not match indicate to me that these may not be in print much longer. We shall see.

Actually, I should retract my statement against the quality of the Malaysian ROTK. The binding and quality of the images/printing are as good as the HM or Rotolito volumes. However, the color of the de-jacketed volume represents a poor choice by someone at the printer or publisher or both. I attempted to take some photos of images from the Rotolito vs HM FOTR and Malaysia vs HM ROTK, but the photos represent the differences poorly.

I also purchased the 2024 Deluxe Edition and included a photo (2nd impression, Graphicom).

The HMs look gorgeous. I feel a lot better now. The 1st prints are quite common. I don't know the real number but as it's a mass market product I'd guess somewhere in the very upper four digits. It's definitely very nice to have (and see) a matching set of 1sts though.

The 2024 WM LotR set also looks very nice. (I had to send my 2nd imp right back because the TT spine was bent in a terrible way.) And there's an AI Silmarillion next to it that you had not mentioned before ... good collecting speed there. :)