EmilK wrote:

Trotter wrote:

The book seems to be in the same style as these editions.

Are we anticipating it as a "standard" hardcover? Do you think they will release an equivalent deluxe edition?

They could do, it is priced at £45 the same as The Hobbit and The Silmarillion Special editions, but if these sell well then I can see a Deluxe edition as well released with Season 4 or 5 of Rings of Power.

From Amazon

Looking very nice

Tiansha wrote:

Looking very nice

Indeed It seems to match the "illustrated by the author" editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Hobbit. I think it's an odd choice, since this doesn't really fit with those in content. But I guess it'll still make a nice companion to those books.

Weird choice, but I guess HC knows they will get a lot of repeat sales from those who need to have everything that is in a given style.

I guess there are solid reasons for HC releasing this, relating to the release of the third season of Rings of Power.

Season one viewing figures were 150 million and season two had 55 million. That's a huge drop, but 55 million viewers is still a hell of a lot. If you can only sell books to 0.1% of the audience, that's still 55,000 books.

I imagine HC have decided that this series of books best matches the audience demographic with disposable income/willingness to shell out for a "premium edition". Maybe the general design of this series also appeals particularly to Millennials/Gen Z...

The late Stu wrote:

Weird choice, but I guess HC knows they will get a lot of repeat sales from those who need to have everything that is in a given style.

Only thing I can think of is that and hoping to tap into RoP Season 3...

Though honestly if HC wanted to build out another line I'm not sure FoN is the title to do it. IMO Unfinished Tales would have been the better choice for that, could eventually add the Great Tales.

I think this might be aimed at "novice" collectors. Based on reddit, many Tolkien fans these days tend to get the author illustrated editions as their first "collector's editions", their first really nice looking books. I even saw one showing these three off and asking for where to go next to learn more about the first and second ages, recently. For someone like him, this new editions is going to be perfect, as he gets to read more and it matches his collection.

US edition

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The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-Earth (Hardback Special edition)

J.R.R. Tolkien, Illustrated by Alan Lee, Edited by Brian Sibley
9780063589797
William Morrow (2026-11-10)

$75.00 Amazon.com (Hardcover) - Availability: PREORDER

€70.49 Amazon.de (Gebundene Ausgabe) - Availability: PREORDER

Check harpercollins.co.uk • amazon.ca • amazon.es • amazon.fr • amazon.it

I'll be buying it because .... well ... Ill be buying it.