First American Edition
Having found a second first edition paper back for my collection I decided to do a quick article and add some pictures for people who need help identifying their own copy in the wild. Two different first edition hard covers exist, the one above is the American edition. Below is the Euro hard back and the first page describing it as such. You can identify either edition by the opening page.
They are both first editions, but for some reason the American version sells for a little bit more. I have seen "okay" copies of the American edition sell for over $100 almost every time i check up on it. Again, opening publishers information is to the left. The top picture being the American, the bottom the Euro. Both hard covers have book club edition equivalents so be careful for that. Still fun to own, just not worth as much.
Paperback first edition
The paperback had a huge printing run based on the demand of the hard cover. First/first copies of this book are still fairly common, but the reprints are insane. About the book itself, i think it got out around this time that his son Christopher kind of wrote pieces of the book so it would all tie in to things he found laying around his dad's desk after he died. After the initial sales died down after a year or so, it never really picked up any momentum. With the rise of the movies reprints cheaply made in abundance make this something are currently looking for on eBay.. and the prices drive up accordingly. You can get about $25 in decent condition. I guess the next question is.. "Major, are these your books?" Well, yes, all but the euro.
My copies on my coffee table.
I try to use all my own pictures for the website and I have pretty much stuck to that until this post.. I never owned a Euro version so I got the pictures from an eBay page of a known rare book seller with his permission. Just a little FYI.
I haven't read that particular book, but I know you have, Major. Is it worth the read?
ReplyDeleteI think it is. It's kind of out there, but it completes some of the missing lore of the rings trilogy. You can pick out the parts connecting the stories as written by his son pretty easily.
ReplyDeleteSorry to bug you, but...
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me if there is a blub on the back of the paperback of this, is there a blurb to this effect: "BLAH and BLAH when the world was young!" {breathless praise]
I remember this (though I may have imagined it) and it's driving me nuts that I can't find it.