Further mutiple edits made today to the listing...

George Allen and Unwin, 1977 First edition. Fine book and jacket. Very slight fading to spine title colors, with a small scratch and tear, likely from being pulled out from a shelf by the spine head. Very rare for being signed by Christopher Tolkien. It might have been signed at the time of publication in 1977 as the book is in unread condition overall. The binding is stiff indicating its not been opened much. We can't say for sure when it was signed, but we will guarranty the signature with a COA, please ask. We have sold only a few Christopher Tolkien signed books as so few come on the market. He's quite elderly and now having left the Tolkien Estate as a trustee, we doubt there will be many of his signed items available in the future. His signature is likely to soar in value with serious Tolkien collectors. It is appropriate to have his signature in this book, the first he totally reworked and published on his father's behalf.

There is no issue regarding what is a first edition book. (The first American edition came a year later). There is however two versions of the first edition dust jacket. One without a price on the inner flap, the export export edition and one with £4.95, the UK only edition. The export edition was supposedly released first, now harder to find, though UK first editions of all Tolkien's masterpieces remain the most collected editions. Ideally you should have one of each dust jacket in your collection as well as an American edition from 1978.

I'm offering a choice of three dust jackets with the book as the fact it is signed is more important to the overall value than which jacket it has. The three choices are, 1) UK edition w/ £4.95 price. (main photo) Spine title red is very slightly fades, jacket has some surface scratches and a tiny tear to spine head (shown in the photo above). 2) Export edition, (shown on left in two book photo) no price, but with complete fading to spine colors, covers otherwise lovely with no tears. 3) A price clipped version with true spine colors and no wear anywhere. I would display the nicest in this dust jacket. (shown on right)

Listing now has new/original photos, which is an improvement. Buy-It-Now price is now £1,195; which is one of the highest prices I've ever seen for this type of CT signed Silmarillion. Time will tell if anyone pays this kind of price for it...

BH

The whole idea of swapping in a jacket from a different state of the book is fairly awful. If I was the seller and wanted to do that to make the book appealing, I think I'd at least provide the correct one, and then provide a non-correct but better-looking one in addition (i.e. just a bonus extra) to improve shelf appeal. I don't personally have an issue with swapping jackets for a better example of the same state (which frankly given this is a Sil, would be quite easy, given unsigned they are ten-a-penny).