The late Stu wrote:

Honestly, Completely fatigued by these releases. Will skip this set, personally.

It's a pass for me as well. I really like the Hobbit and LotR releases in the same style, but this set just doesn't make sense to me. Neither did the previous "Great Tales" sets. I understand putting these books together from a marketing (or an Alan Lee collector's) perspective but not as a reader/Tolkien enthusiast.

CoH is up there with the Silmarillion when it comes to "Christopher finishing his father's job". The other two volumes are nothing like it. They are interesting as version histories, but unlike CoH these aren't books that I would want to read again and again from front to back. To me this set feels like packaging the Silmarillion with the History of the Hobbit.

Luckyshot wrote:

US Edition not showing up on Amazon.com yet? Looks like the WM edition is available, but not in the US.

The WM ISBN is known, but it is not yet available for pre-order anywhere. When Amazon.com has it, the price and link will show up at the top of this thread automatically.

It looks beautiful, but I think the price point is a bit expensive for me at the moment, but the price might come down on sales.

For me, the final decision will come down to how much I end up liking the extras compared with the standard hardcover box set and how much I feel that I need to complete this set. One option is to wait and see if they release a third set or if this thematic set will be limited to only a few volumes. If they release a single volume Silmarillion, that one I would certainly buy to complete LotR + Hobbit + Silmarillion.

I also have the sinking feeling that I should be more stringent with purchases over all, then the price point might be okay. Do I really need more than 2-3 copies of works outside the main works? Perhaps not. I can be happy with one standard and one deluxe hardcover.

Lots of things to consider, so I am glad it is a few months away.

I'm with you. I just don't have the room for anything else!

Actually I half expected them to do this release because of the Alan Lee art.
My first gut reaction was, I don’t need it, but knowing me, I will probably get a set at a lower price point eventually, if not for my birthday in December :D
I really like the companion LR and Hobbit Editions. I am hoping for similar embellished “frames” as the previous two releases, but am not sure if HC will do it if they don’t have Folio Society edition handy to reuse it from.

As for the price: Keep in mind that the price will likely drop considerably by summer 2027. Amazon will probably have a good price around Christmas. That being said, it still won’t be available for just a Nickel and even the best price won’t make you if you’re not into the work itself.

So, now off to get a bigger shelf…

fgdj2000 wrote:

Actually I half expected them to do this release because of the Alan Lee art.
My first gut reaction was, I don’t need it, but knowing me, I will probably get a set at a lower price point eventually, if not for my birthday in December :D
I really like the companion LR and Hobbit Editions. I am hoping for similar embellished “frames” as the previous two releases, but am not sure if HC will do it if they don’t have Folio Society edition handy to reuse it from.

As for the price: Keep in mind that the price will likely drop considerably by summer 2027. Amazon will probably have a good price around Christmas. That being said, it still won’t be available for just a Nickel and even the best price won’t make you if you’re not into the work itself.

So, now off to get a bigger shelf…

Decorative frames were already part of the art for B&L and FoG. As part of the recent re-release, the full-page presentation of the plates for CoH was dropped and colour decorative borders were retro-fitted to the illustrations, making all three books consistent (I'd personally prefer them all without decorative borders with larger images, like the original CoH). Note that such borders were never present on the original art for CoH (in the same way as they were not part of the Hobbit or LotR art), which is why the monochrome ones were added afterwards (a number of them re-used between illustrations).

I assume the page blocks for this new release will be essentially identical to the existing boxed set.

Actually even some of the art in the Lord of the Rings volumes have these colored decorative frames (and now the black and white patterns around it). While I would wish this new edition has some substantial additions, I believe you're right and it will essentially be last year's edition with a new cover.

I assume 2027 we will get a similar edition of Fall of Numenor, but that's speculation, which we don't do here.

I love the look of this set, as I know they will line up nicely next to the identical Hobbit and LOTR editions. However, I'm wondering if we'll even see a Silmarillion in this format. Or if this is becoming the "Alan Lee" deluxe editions...

fgdj2000 wrote:

I assume 2027 we will get a similar edition of Fall of Numenor, but that's speculation, which we don't do here.

I would be more inclined to think that 2027 will be about The Silmarillion's 50th anniversary.

fgdj2000 wrote:

Actually even some of the art in the Lord of the Rings volumes have these colored decorative frames (and now the black and white patterns around it). While I would wish this new edition has some substantial additions, I believe you're right and it will essentially be last year's edition with a new cover.

I assume 2027 we will get a similar edition of Fall of Numenor, but that's speculation, which we don't do here.

LotR primarily has plain bue/grey borders (a fraction more detail in the original art). There are certainly a handful of truly decorative borders of varying styles (10 or so across the three books, IIRC). Those borders are not really in any consistent style, such as those already present in FoG, B&L and FoN. I think the fact that they could be added digitally to the paintings made it less of a chore for AL to add them in the more recent works (lots of repetition and reversal in the borders). Borders around those borders would be "buttering the bacon", I think.