Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

It doesn’t say that in product pages such as Blackwell’s:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/prod ... 669430?a_aid=tolkienguide

HarperCollins updated the product description somewhat recently, presumably after many people who bought a copy complained that it was not leather, as claimed. You can still easily find the original pre-update description on some sites.

There is also the fact that the slip of paper that came with the book claimed it was leather. There was no ambiguity, either in the online product blurb associated with the ISBN or on the packaging of the book: "quarter bound in blue leather, ..."

It isn't leather and was never leather. HarperCollins stated that The Hobbit was to be bound in the "same materials" as The Lord of the Rings, thus avoiding revisiting the subject.

Thank you Stu for that image.

It has been proven now beyond any doubt (if there was any) that HarperCollins advertised the volumes being in part made with leather when in fact they are not leather. We should be able to move on from that point I think.

On the materials that are used, I just had a look over the box again and I will say that for my money (under €170 from memory), I think that it represented incredibly good value for money. I re-read the books using them and they were nice to hold and read. I was happy with the set and if The Hobbit turns out the same I won't be disappointed.

onthetrail wrote:

On the materials that are used, I just had a look over the box again and I will say that for my money (under €170 from memory), I think that it represented incredibly good value for money. I re-read the books using them and they were nice to hold and read. I was happy with the set and if The Hobbit turns out the same I won't be disappointed.

I tend to agree, but I think with a caveat. Book pricing is pretty much being set with the expectation that many copies will be sold at 50% discount. I think with pretty much any of these titles, you have to go with the mindset that you are asking yourself if the value is there at the discounted price, not the RRP. For this 70th set, I feel the £125 (which I paid) was pretty much on the money. At full price, I'd have been pretty disappointed.

Which of course leads to this new set, where they will be sold at RRP. It makes the comparison between the two sets much less favourable, as one has to find a £625 additional "value" in the box, gilt pages edges, slightly better paper and AL signature page. Some people will find that value, of course, but I can see why the online rumblings are critical of the pricing. I'm certainly mindful of the last HarperCollins AL signed/numbered edition, the 3000-copy Sketch book set in full cloth with inserts, which was £75!

On the subject of the paper, my hope (for people that buy this is) is that they won't print a beige background on the Munken Lynx, and will allow the plates and text pages to have the same almost-white background. It is one of the failings of many of the recent editions (flicking through my 70th, I see the variation in page colour between the signatures that came off differently calibrated printers. It is minor, but it calls the "fakery" into a stark relief that I can't quite ignore).

The late Stu wrote:

I tend to agree, but I think with a caveat. Book pricing is pretty much being set with the expectation that many copies will be sold at 50% discount. I think with pretty much any of these titles, you have to go with the mindset that you are asking yourself if the value is there at the discounted price, not the RRP. For this 70th set, I feel the £125 (which I paid) was pretty much on the money. At full price, I'd have been pretty disappointed.

Yes this is a very good point. I was very happy at the price I paid! I would not want to pay double that for this set.

To the recent comments:

THAT makes sense, and that’s where it must’ve came from.

As stated earlier, there’s some kind of discrepancy between the slip that came with the set, and the current official online description. I don’t own the set (yet?) so I was only going by what they provided online; unaware of the fact that it had been changed.

I apologize for any issues that this may have caused, but when the online description doesn’t mention leather, I hope you understand WHY I thought the way that I did.

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

I apologize for any issues that this may have caused, but when the online description doesn’t mention leather, I hope you understand WHY I thought the way that I did.

We did an unboxing video for the set, discussed the blue leather material at length, and you commented nine times in that thread after watching the video (per your own comments).

https://www.tolkienguide.com/search.ph ... er§ion=forum&count=20

I do not understand at all why you thought the way you did.

I guess within a year, I’d forgotten about that aspect of the set….

Gerontius Took wrote:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1253234893515908

Quite humorous that there is a Folio set behind Alan as he is speaking...as if to say "couldn't get that set, well here is the next best thing!"

I’ll be very happy if I get one :)