Which kind of first printing of Silmarillion is this copy?

You are correct, it is a first domestic printing. We don't have a lot of info on states of the Billing printing, not sure that they have been published.

If it is very good condition with an unfaded dust-jacket, bright red lettering, you might be expected to pay about £150 for it, terrible dust-jacket about £50. £20 is very cheap.

Trotter wrote:

You are correct, it is a first domestic printing. We don't have a lot of info on states of the Billing printing, not sure that they have been published.

If it is very good condition with an unfaded dust-jacket, bright red lettering, you might be expected to pay about £150 for it, terrible dust-jacket about £50. £20 is very cheap.

Thank you so much for the quick reply Trotter. I am always amazed by the depths and breadth of your Tolkien knowledge. I will look at the dustjacket specifically when I visist and I also appreciated your insight into evaluation.

EmilK wrote:

Hi all,

Yes, I know they where made in the hundreds of thousands and are dirt cheap online etc. but I think it is a kind of right of passage for junior collectors and this involves a visit to a physical used book shop. I am a bit too wary about international shipping and buying on Ebay due to scams etc. but I may get used to it in the future.

They're not so dirt cheap anymore, domestic and export 1sts in fine condition routinely sell for over $100 these days.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

They're not so dirt cheap anymore, domestic and export 1sts in fine condition routinely sell for over $100 these days.

That is impressive and good for me to know. I must have read Internet discussions from many years in the past. Thank you.

EmilK wrote:

Hi all,

I may have the oppertunity to acquire a first edition, first printing of Silmarillion. Yes, I know they where made in the hundreds of thousands and are dirt cheap online etc. but I think it is a kind of right of passage for junior collectors and this involves a visit to a physical used book shop. I am a bit too wary about international shipping and buying on Ebay due to scams etc. but I may get used to it in the future.

However, I am bit unsure what kind of first printing (export versus domestic, different states etc.) it really is as the information seems a bit complicated. I have read the fantastic video and write-up Trotter and also looked at various pages at TolkienBooks, but I feel that it is all a bit over my head.

I do not have access to any photos that show anything of value (just a generic photo of the outside suggesting that it is VG or around there), but I have the following information (some diagnostic information may be missing or involve things I do not understand):

Edition and printing: First edition, first printing.
Publisher: George Allen & Unwin, UK edition.
Printed by Billing & Sons.
Year: 1977
Color/material of the book without dustjacket: cloth, dark blue (no information about shade and I do not know what a headband is).
Dustjacket: unclipped, price of £4.95 on the inside.
Color on top of the pages: black.
Maps: Sindar and Noldor maps are against p. 120.
Typographic errors: italics "and" (p. 352) and Feanor without a period after (p. 330).

I have two questions:

1. Without any kind of expert knowledge, I would have assumed that this is first edition, first printing of the domestic edition (since it was printed by Billing & Sons and that the maps are against p.g 120) and that the uncorrected errors point to an early state (if so, which one)?

2. The asking price (presumably I can negotiate) is on the order of 200 GBP. Am I right in assuming that this is completely unreasonable? Like around 10x too much?

Can’t answer the question on a specific state, but I’d say real-world selling prices for 1st Sils in NF condition with no spine fading can be had for £50 or so with regularity. Plenty of copies in the £20 range if the jackets have fading. Sold listings on eBay always show a lot of variability in pricing.

I’d never pay much for a Sil unless it was genuinely as new, which will carry a bit of a premium.

The late Stu wrote:

Can’t answer the question on a specific state, but I’d say real-world selling prices for 1st Sils in NF condition with no spine fading can be had for £50 or so with regularity. Plenty of copies in the £20 range if the jackets have fading. Sold listings on eBay always show a lot of variability in pricing.

I’d never pay much for a Sil unless it was genuinely as new, which will carry a bit if a premium.

Thank you. I will definitely keep this in mind once I see the book copy in person. I can probably negotiate the price somewhat, but not by more than 15% or so (based on past experience with regional used book shops).

Hi again,

I have the same question but for another copy of the book. I got this one the other week on an established Ebay-type website from a national charity organization with a great reputation. However, the history of the item is completely unknown since they just get books sent to them as donations. I am a little bit suspicious because the book seems in quite good shape, including the dustjacket (although the red on the spine is faded to, say 90% or more, which they said but did not show in the advert), but possibly I am just paranoid. I paid around 45 GBP for it.

The book has the following features:

Edition and printing: First edition, first printing.
Publisher: George Allen & Unwin, UK edition.
Printed by: William Clowes & Sons
Year: 1977
Materials of the book: Feels like cloth, but unsure? (see photo), dark blue.
Pages on top colored dark blue / black, very weak color so cannot tell.
Dustjacket: No price on the bottom front flap on the inside.
Map: Map of West and East Beleriand facing page 121, blank page facing page 120. Big foldoutmap at the back.,
Typographic errors: italics "and" in Lord of Waters and King of the Sea (p. 352, towards bottom of page) and Feanor without a period after (p. 330, line 4).








Questions I have (I did check the amazing Trotter thread on the topic, but since I am a very junior collector, I don't really trust my own judgement on highly specialized topics like this one and I also do not ):

1. Is this a first edition, first printing of the export edition?

2. Based on the photos, does it look like a cloth or paper binding? I tried to feel and compare with other books, but I basically know nothing about what the difference in look and feel is. I now see that the photo fo the front of the book looks grey, but it is more like dark blue. I only had weak yellow light on in the room. Can try to take a better photo if needed.

3. If it is cloth + dyed top, does this make it a first state (or variant 1 as listed in Trotter's post on UK First Editions)?

4. What exactly is a "headband"?

5. Is there anything that looks odd with this copy? Something that might make us question authenticity? Besides the the spine being very faded, the dustjacket seems unrealistically good shape and the book paper is much thicker than what I would have expected compared with modern books. Do all later dustjackets have price printed on the front flap? Or is it possible that someone has discarded the original and put on a later dustjacket in better shape? How would I know?

I have to recomend tolkienbooks.net to you

An excellent resource for all tolkien collectors that can answer many questions for you. In general regarding first ed silmarillions: good jackets are not uncommon...finding ones with unfaded spines is the trick and even that not too hard.

northman wrote:

I have to recomend tolkienbooks.net to you

An excellent resource for all tolkien collectors that can answer many questions for you. In general regarding first ed silmarillions: good jackets are not uncommon...finding ones with unfaded spines is the trick and even that not too hard.

Thank you for your reply. The source you mention is a source that I have already consulted, and if you read the thread by Trotter carefully, you will see that the information there is based in part on that source.