Price Net £4.95: Re-Pricing The Silmarillion, 1977–1992
When The Silmarillion was first published in September 1977, dustjackets—on hardback copies intended for UK distribution and sale—carried a printed price of ‘£4.95’. A few years after publication GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN (GA&U) decided to increase the (‘net’) price of The Silmarillion in hardback. Stock, printed in 1977, with dustjackets still priced at £4.95, would need to be changed to reflect this. GA&U chose to do this, as they did with many other editions, by amending the printed price(s) on dustjackets using price labels (stickers); simple, inexpensive, and presumably still NET BOOK AGREEMENT compliant. At various points, throughout the 1980s, stock of The Silmarillion—still held by GA&U (and later UNWIN HYMAN)—would be re-priced in this manner.
The following list aims to document known price changes made to The Silmarillion in hardback from publication through to 1992. All re-pricing examples given below are to the dustjackets of Clowes Second Impression and University Press Fourth Impression copies only. Assigned label variant codes are for ease of cross-referencing in this write-up only.
The Silmarillion — Clowes First State (Cloth Binding Variant) (1977)
This Clowes variant of The Silmarillion is perhaps viewed by many as the archetypal copy exhibiting all the requisite features of a “true first”: published by GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN (GA&U), printed by WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS, first impression, all textual errors present (first state), cloth-covered boards, top page-edge dyed, decorative headband, and an unpriced dustjacket...
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