Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

What do you mean? The deluxe editions of Ted Nasmith illustrated Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and The Complete Guide have slipcases….

"They" in my post means the new books that this thread is about, not the old books that their spine design matches.

Ahhh that makes a lot more sense.

My bad!

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Emilien wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Emilien wrote:

Was also thinking about one thing : the spine now matches the cloth deluxe illustrated series (UT, S, Complete Guide of Middle Earth), with the same device.

I'd say that's a stretch to call this LoTR matching with those other volumes.

It seems pretty similar to me.
(the same line separator between author and titles. With the diamond device. (As per the pictures showed, the new Lord of the rings books use it as a counter for the different volumes : 1 diamond for book 1, two for book 2, etc...)

Oh sure, I agree with you that the font on the spine is the same, but that's where the matching ends. There's just nothing else about them that matches to those other three volumes.

Well, they are all full cloth and the same size (and have an illustration tipped to the front, plus the diamond device). If you were to put them on a shelf without the respective cases they would match better than most other editions I know of. It's a real shame that they didn't make the 2024 LotR (and 2025 Hobbit) full cloth with this simpler, nicer spine design that matches the others.

Who knows, maybe next year there will be an unsigned, non-clamshell clone of the clone of the clone of the Folio edition. :) I'd jump on it for sure.

As someone who doesn’t have anything near a limited deluxe edition I am excited by this edition

I'm sure it will be a nice set but it's not for me. There is not that much to distinguish it from the three volume quarter leather box set of last year and I'm a underwhelmed by the same book being repackaged yet again. I also like my books to be accessible and the clam box with drawers to remove the books looks like it could be clunky and cumbersome.

If Harper Collins were to produce a top quality three volume slipcased facsimile of the first edition LOTR, rather like they did with the Hobbit (or a set inspired by the first editions with the identical cover designs), I would be all over that in a heartbeat. Otherwise, I'm just not impressed with the same books released again in a big novelty box with a few extra bells and whistles like postcards.

HC sent a newsletter email about it today (or at least, I got it today) but it mostly just links to that YouTube video from a few weeks ago.

I noticed that The States isn’t included on the list of countries that they ship this to. Just an FYI.

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

I noticed that The States isn’t included on the list of countries that they ship this to. Just an FYI.

It was initially then removed The tariff effect maybe ?

Emilien wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

Hilarious that a (once upon a time) bog-standard cloth binding is being fed to us as "deluxe".

Totally agree with this.
I'm wondering if the paper described to be used in the limited version (Munken Lynx paper) is the same than the regular deluxe? (This would actually be the only thing that could really make a difference between the 2).

Munken Lynx is the white version of Munken Pure. Like Munken Pure it comes in lots of different weights. And I assume, like Munken Pure, the surface finish can be quite variable (e.g. the fantastic paper on Folio LotR and the mediocre paper on Folio The Hobbit). I suspect that the Hobbit second batch replacements are Munken Lynx.

I think the paper will be basically the same weight as the current edition, but perhaps a slight opacity improvement.

Guessing the release date is 30th October then?