My copy arrived today! Number 53 - same as on the label. No defects that I can see.

I ordered at about 6.30pm on the day it was announced. I was SUPPOSED to be on annual leave that day but had to go into work - how annoyed am I now. I could have been rivalling remy and Beren for those really early numbers!

Incidentally, I think that there may be plenty of copies left. I know somebody that didn't order until December 4th and they got copy number 133. Considering that at least 60 copies sold on the first day, they aren't exactly flying off the shelf...

Has anybody tried placing a second order to get around the 2 copies per person rule?

I was a little nervous about the colour, having seen the pictures on ebay, but it is a good dark blue - not quite as dark as the pics at tolkien.co.uk though.

I like the book - it is weighty and feels solid. I would have preferred them to position the ribs on the spine to match the full leather editions issued by A&U in the 80s, but the spine looks good any how - better than the A&U editions in some respects, because the lettering is clearer. The two-colour dragon helm insignia on the upper cover looks wonderful, but I would have preferred the JRRT mongram on the lower cover to be a bit larger and blind stamped - the blind stamping on the 80s A&U editions works really well.

I am less enarmoured of the clamshell case. Not for any reason of quality - It is well constructed and will keep the book in A1 condition - even better than a slipcase - but closing the lid just doesn't FEEL the same as sliding a book into a well-made slipcase. [I just got up to try out the '82 Collector's Silmarillion again - it just GLIDES into the slipcase - that is possibly my absolute favourite book!]

Overall I am very pleased - the new edition is a worthy addition to Tolkien publishing history.

BUT how long will we have to wait for HarperCollins to produce a super deluxe LOTR???

Here's hoping I got a resonably low number too! My order confirmation from worldpay was at 10:33 on the morning of the 19th, so it might be fairly low (twenties would be nice). I just bashed off an email to my fiancee's mum to ask her to have a look for numbers on the address label, so we will see. My second copy is currently sitting in Singapore according to the postal tracking site, but I didn't order that until the following day, so will be somewhere between 60 and 100, I guess.

With regards to ordering more than two copies. I can't see HarperCollins putting up much of a stink, especially as they seem to be (possibly) having trouble shifting them. If money is proferred, I'm sure they will accept it.


Cheers
Stu

PS. Merry not-being-at-work-for-a-few-days to everyone! If you are at work over the 'festive season', you have my commiserations! :)

Metapraxis, You probably got copy number 3 or 4. My order was at 10:39am and I got copies 5 and 6. Good Luck!

Yep, it was number 3!

Stu

w00t! #3 - hard to beat that, since I still hold the opinion that #1 and #2 went to the obvious. Make you wish you had ordered two copies Stu?

Nah, I'm not too worried about not having ordered two copies up front. I think the number is fairly academic anyway (although number 3 certainly does have a nice ring to it!)

I'm not sure about whether copies 1 and 2 were sold or given (as you suspect to CT and AL) . My address label apparently had No.3, (P?)1-1 and the shipping reference on it. I'm assuming the 1-1 simply refers to it being the first printing?

However, my worldpay cart ID was 151. It might be assumed that the first transaction was 150, which could well be someone buying copies 1 and 2. Just speculation, of course!

Stu

Nah, I'm not too worried about not having ordered two copies up front. I think the number is fairly academic anyway (although number 3 certainly does have a nice ring to it!)-Metapraxis

Nice?!
Academic indeed...

I was at work on the 19th, I can't just go surfing and checking my email like some!

>I was at work on the 19th, I can't just go surfing and checking my email like some! - Khamul

Actually, I was also at work that day, but the 9 hour time-difference between Perth and the UK played to my advantage - There have to be some advantages to being stuck hanging off the bottom of the planet !!! :)

I've always liked those southern hemisphere focused world maps and globes that are reversed (south is towards to top) - a nice perspective on things. After all, North is completely arbitrary...

Yep, north and south are pretty arbitrary, but given that those pesky Europeans drew the first world maps (and they also favour that annoying Mercatur projection which makes Western Europe look huge and Australia look the size of a dry-roasted peanut), I have grown to accept that I am dwelling on the underbelly of the planet :)

More importantly, my second [Australia-bound] copy of the CoH arrived today (number 97 -- which is kind of nice as my two copies neatly add up to 100). It's an impressive book and the colour is much nicer than it appeared in some of those eBay photos.

Now we all just have to hope that HC don't give up on trying to sell them direct and end up putting them on Amazon heavily discounted. That would be kind of annoying!

Stu