Lyon & Turnbull Auction - Wed, 7 Feb 2024 10:00 AM GMT

Lot 296

The Hobbit
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937. First edition, second impression, 8vo, 310 pp., original green cloth, titles and decoration to spine and covers in blue, map endpapers printed in red and black, colour frontispiece depicting Hobbiton, 3 colour plates ('The Fair Valley of Rivendell'; 'The Dark River opened Suddenly Wide', '"O Smaug, the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities"', one uncoloured plate (Mirkwood), full-page illustrations in text, advertisement leaf to rear, spine and covers marked, loss to head and foot of spine, incipient wear to section of front joint, front board slightly bowed and with fraying to cloth along top edge, tips of both boards bumped and worn, inner hinges superficially split but remaining firm, light spotting to endpapers and half-title, light finger-soiling to half-title, title-page and occasionally elsewhere, a few leaves faintly dog-eared [cf. Hammond A3a]

Estimate GBP 2,000 - 3,000
Sold for GBP 4,788 including fees

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 5e-4a20-b5b4-b0fc00a941ed

Lot 297

[The Lord of the Rings:]
The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954-5. First editions, first impressions, 3 volumes, 8vo, 423, 352, 416 pp. original red cloth, textblock top edges dyed red, folding map printed in red and black to rear of each volume, Fellowship with map ('A Part of the Shire) and line-drawing of the gate of Moria in text (both full-page), half-page line-drawing of Dwarven runes on p. 333. Spines rolled and sunned, scattered markings to cloth (chiefly to spines), tips bumped, fading to dye on top edges of textblocks, a few trivial marks to text, contemporary ownership inscriptions in pen or pencil to front free endpapers, Fellowship with bleeding of edge-dye into free endpapers and to top margins of final few leaves, free endpapers browned, Two Towers endpapers spotted, Return of the King front board very slightly sprung [Hammond A5 a i-iii](3)

Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
Sold for GBP 8,820 including fees

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 8b-4b3e-a4e3-b0fc00a942a2

Lot 298

[The Lord of the Rings:]
The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1955. First editions, fourth, second and first impressions, 8vo, original red cloth, folding map in red and black to each volume, with the dust jackets. Spines rolled, cloth marked, rubbing to tips, top edges faded, spotting to edges and endpapers, light spotting to prelims, a little bleeding of cloth-dyed into margins of endpapers, personalised ink-stamps to front free endpapers, Two Towers map loose, dust jackets variably chipped and soiled, Two Towers in third-impression dust jacket, Fellowship dust jacket front panel detached [Hammond A5 a. iii for Return of the King](3)

Estimate GBP 1,000 - 1,500
Sold for GBP 1,890 including fees

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 4a-478b-935d-b0fc00a9432a

Compare these estimates to what people are asking on eBay. Ha!

Luckyshot wrote:

Compare these estimates to what people are asking on eBay. Ha!

As is common these days, the auction house has given an extremely conservative estimate. I expect these will sell for much more than these estimates.