based on the last ebay auctions, which I think reflect the "true" average price, I would say between £400 and £600, depending on the conditions.

This is a nice book to be sure and one which rarely comes on ebay (2 in last 2.5 years).
What is a reasonable price ?
Good question and my answer would be 'the price you are willing to pay'

Like most of us on this forum I really wanted a copy and I knew I would have to pay a fair bit. Fate worked for me a little and whilst some would say blimey how much! I was happy to pay the asking price and I am sure had I not someone else would have done.

I am not sure what these were originally sold for? Anyone know? I guess £250 ?

The problem is hardly any ever come onto an open auction market so the current market value is a bit of a guess and if one came up tomorrow for £750 buy it now i am sure it would be snapped up.
Is it worth this sort of money - who knows?

It's not worth £750. Personally, I think anyone paying this much, for this book, is nuts.

"The price you are willing to pay" argument has been rehearsed many times, on this forum, before. In my opinion there is really little point in discussing prices, value, worth, etc --if people (in all seriousness) are going to use the argument of any price paid, equals the price said item is worth, at a given point in time. Pointless.

Last price I noted, on eBay, was £595; too much I think. If I never get hold of this edition, I'll not be too bothered.

BH

Thank you for the replies. It is interesting to see everyone's different opinions on how much they feel this book is worth.

There are other books which i would place ahead of this one in terms of desirability for me, though if this came up at a great price i would definitely go for it.

Does anyone think the values of Tolkien books in general will decrease after the next PJ trilogy is released and the fans it draws in subsides?

As if so perhaps its better to just play a waiting game to get some of the limited edition books. If this book was originally sold for around 250 but the last one on Ebay was 595, that is a big jump in price for a book that is less than 15 years old.

In that time though obviously there has been the lotr movie trilogy with the general increase in fans, some of which must have ended up becoming fans of the actual source material and then also wanting to collect Tolkien works. Pushing up prices?

On another note - I'm sorry if this is too off topic, but how often does Anniversary Super De Luxe Edition (1987) of The Hobbit come up for sale and does anyone know the prices it goes for? Its another book which i have my eye on - i think its a beautiful edition and happens to be from the year of my birth (i know, I'm a young whippersnapper )

Play the waiting game I'd say if you have the patience. You will with a bit of lady luck find your wants for less costs. Will film affect values- no doubt it will but whether these high prices hold will depend on general economy I guess.
Re the 87 hobbit I can only recall seeing 1 for £500 about a year ago. There was a question over condition I recall. Missing this copy myself.
My big regret was I was offered one of these in the early 90s for a couple of £100 but at time couldn't afford it- o well.

Good luck in your search

The original price was £100, while £250 was for the 1992 Deluxe Illustrated Edition of LoTR limited to 250 copies (another set that I'd like to own...)
I agree with Khamul, £750 is too much.

Cumbrian Dwarf, there is a copy of the 1987 super deluxe hobbit for sale at The Tolkien Bookshelf through ABE books for.... a smidge under £1100. A nice 25th present maybe??!

And Glorfindel your LoTR deluxe illustrated 1992 is at JRRT books, Ireland through ABE books too. Only £1009 for that ! Must start buying a lottery ticket....

The GBP 595 copy was me, and was a "what the hell" purchase as it was my 40th birthday (and my mum was stumping up just shy of half :))

That was for a flawless copy, mind. They don't seem to turn up very often and when they do GBP 500+ seems to be the going rate.

Very nice book, but I couldn't remotely justify the price by any logical means. Now and then, I just buy something because I want to (despite knowing it is daft). This would be one of those purchases.

Stu

Edit: I personally believe that global economic conditions will push the value of non-essential items like this steadily down over time. If you care about future value (and I don't), then IMHO you should not buy - Tolkien stuff in general is in a bubble. I won't even touch signed JRRT stuff because the prices are so daft and are effectively being manipulated by a small number of dealers that control the bulk of the stock.

Hi Folks

I bought my copy brand new in 2002 from an independent bookstore on the Isle of Wight. It was priced at £100 but I haggled the retailer down to £80. I've been tracking the price of this book for the last couple of years and prices have ranged from £500-£1,000. As to what it is worth - as much as people are willing to pay for it, and with most copies now in private collections the price will continue to creep up. It is a beautiful book and I have no desire to sell it. Nevertheless expect the price to go through the roof if a tv series ever gets put together or (and please excuse me for being morbid) when Christopher Tolkien inevitably passes away...