Roccondil wrote:

Well, I've definitely got a blue deluxe Hobbit - its just the French one! The UK one is L.E.G.O. The other more green one I haven't yet taken out of the cellophane from whenever I got the 5-vol deluxe (when it came out a few years ago).

Your box set should have a 2nd Printing (Printing Express Hong Kong).

Years ago, reddit user /u/Berelach (not sure if that's the same as our Berelach) posted a collection photo with the 5-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset (ISBN: 9780007488209) in which I asked which about the impression of the set.

Sure, it came with The Hobbit: 2nd Printing (not stated but printed in Hong Kong), Lord of the Rings: 7th, Silmarillion: 2nd, Children of Hurin: 1st, Tales from the Perilous Realm: 1st.

While the books in the 4-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset containing 1st printings for Hob, Sil & CoH and either 2nd or 3rd printings for LotR.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

The colors do very for many of the volumes that have been in print for some time. Chalk it up to a variety of factors, like printers used, materials on hand, QC efforts and the like.

For example if you have a 1st Print S&G it's going to be a much darker shade of brown than a reprint which is a lighter shade of brown. There's also a much lighter shade variant of UT (almost matching the shade of TFPR) that was done for the 3rd printing. I can snap a couple of pics when I get home this afternoon(my time).

Following up on this, lots of small and large color variations among these volumes, not just The Hobbit
Pictured are the 1st and 3rd Prints of Unfinished Tales (big difference) and the 1st and 4th prints of Sigurd & Gudrun (small difference)




Also notice the mirroring of the slipcase logo

Velmeran wrote:

Roccondil wrote:

Well, I've definitely got a blue deluxe Hobbit - its just the French one! The UK one is L.E.G.O. The other more green one I haven't yet taken out of the cellophane from whenever I got the 5-vol deluxe (when it came out a few years ago).

Your box set should have a 2nd Printing (Printing Express Hong Kong).

Years ago, reddit user /u/Berelach (not sure if that's the same as our Berelach) posted a collection photo with the 5-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset (ISBN: 9780007488209) in which I asked which about the impression of the set.

Sure, it came with The Hobbit: 2nd Printing (not stated but printed in Hong Kong), Lord of the Rings: 7th, Silmarillion: 2nd, Children of Hurin: 1st, Tales from the Perilous Realm: 1st.

While the books in the 4-Volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Deluxe Edition Collection boxset containing 1st printings for Hob, Sil & CoH and either 2nd or 3rd printings for LotR.

Thanks Velmeran. That is indeed the ISBN number - and now I know the printings of all the books, still without removing the cellophane!