Have decided i'd accept paying up to 500 pounds for a 1950s first edition set of lotr, but even thats actually getting hard to come by now at such prices. Though i'd say still far more reasonable than the situation with the hobbit prizing going on.

I am seeing first/first of Smith of Wotton Major prized at 40-50 pounds. Is this for real?

As in, you think that's too cheap?

That's not a particularly great price. You could get a first for cheaper.

Khamul: i guess it was surprisingly cheap to me considering the prizelevels for much vintage tolkien these days.

I was about to post -- these are usually about £15, but Khamûl got there first with some examples.

I picked mine up as recently as December for £20. It had a little bonus with it.

this is great. I love SoWM. Having a first edition of it is a very cool thing in my book. Just never thought to look for one before.

£300 more than I paid for my much cleaner copy a couple of years back. Crazy times.

I actually just had a look at when I bought my 1961 copy. It was 2009! :O

Only £39 at the time. So, 10 years, ten times the price? Seems like a warped market.