I have stuck with my Amazon order. I didn't really want to buy this yet but it is a favourite work of Tolkien for me so to hell with the budget for this one.

I will say though that if HarperCollins announce a standard HB of this version once we have all bought this like with 'Father Christmas' then I will be done with HarperCollins going forward and will adopt to buying books on the seconds market. If they do that backward sort of soulless stuff again then they don't deserve my money.

There's no way a new edition with new content is going to sit with just a deluxe release. A standard HB is surely highly likely?

Indeed. I’m 100% sure there will be a standard hardback sooner or later. Has there been an HC Tolkien book lately which has had the Deluxe treatment but hasn’t been also released as a hardback?

Amazon Australia has the release date as July 8

Link: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/000839362 ... _r_cp_api_i_32gQEbC47GP3N

They've also yet to announce a 'matching' edition of The Silmarillion to go with the editions in the original post. I'm expecting their size dimensions to be, height-wise, the same as the Great Tales hardbacks.

Khamûl wrote:
There's no way a new edition with new content is going to sit with just a deluxe release. A standard HB is surely highly likely?

I agree Khamûl but it is fairly ordinary to release deluxe editions later or in the case of new editions of Tolkien at the same time as the HB, HarperCollins have turned that around with FC and coupled with the removing of where it was printed are teetering on looking like scumbags that do not deserve loyal customers.

(to kinda recap my Silmarillion comment above:

- The Hobbit 1997 Alan Lee, oversized hardback
- The Lord of the Rings 2002 Alan Lee, oversized hardback boxed set
- The Silmarillion 2004 Ted Nasmith, oversized hardback

Those are published by HarperCollins and Houghton Mifflin, 'mirroring' one another for the most part (big obvious difference is the HMH illustrated Silmarillion has a fold-out map, while with HarperCollins it's on the boards.)

All of those except for The Silmarillion are getting published in a style that resembles The Great Tales from 2007, 2017, and 2018, which can be glimpsed at from the above photos.)

I'm not sure I'd describe the three woodcuts as "new content", but I'd assume a standard hardback is pretty much a given.

insurrbution - Houghton Mifflin has the opportunity to buy the rights from HarperCollins for the Tolkien Estate material. It is a case-by-case process for each book
- does HMH want it?
- do they think it will sell well in the USA?
- do they think the production choices made by HC will do well (thus "mirror") or do they want to design it differently?
- if they want to use the same design for the book, do they try to reproduce it as closely as they can, or do they use the same printer/binder?

There is no master agreement where HMH must do things, or can do things, or anything like that. They might or might not, based on who is in charge at the time, what budget they have, and what phase the moon happens to be in. ?

Urulókë wrote:
insurrbution - Houghton Mifflin has the opportunity to buy the rights from HarperCollins for the Tolkien Estate material. It is a case-by-case process for each book
- does HMH want it?
- do they think it will sell well in the USA?
- do they think the production choices made by HC will do well (thus "mirror") or do they want to design it differently?
- if they want to use the same design for the book, do they try to reproduce it as closely as they can, or do they use the same printer/binder?

There is no master agreement where HMH must do things, or can do things, or anything like that. They might or might not, based on who is in charge at the time, what budget they have, and what phase the moon happens to be in. ?

So US fans should consider sending HMH a second breakfast and they might get a release?