First Edition Hunt: Lord of the Rings

First Edition Hard Covers

 

     Ill see if I can tell this story a better way then the way I read it, which was confusing for me the first time around.

    Broken down, each Lord of the Rings novel is actually three books in one. Due to paper shortages in the UK at the time of the publication, Tolkien had to compromise, combining three books in to one volume, and agreeing to publish the Silmarillion later on down the line and not with the rest of the books. In his rush to have the books published (due to money issues), Tolkien, or his publishing agent forgot to establish the rights to the book outside of the UK. As the books did well and enjoyed a surge in sales, the ACE publishing company noticed that the rights had not been established for the UK market, and reprinted their own copies here stateside in paperback.

First Edition 'Pirate' Paper Back

 

     The books obviously sold very well and attracted a small amount attention back home, and Tolkien realized he was missing the boat, monetarily. His agent contacted ACE, the people at ACE were not happy, but paid him a little bit of money and agreed to retract their editions for his 'corrected' ones. Tolkien saw many mistakes and plot holes in his very first edition and made quite a few changes to subsequent editions. Sometimes he would forget when changes he made with what publisher, so by publisher, almost all the books were different in a small way. This was not fixed until 1994 when Christopher Tolkien went through them all and added all the revisions together to make one master copy. This 'master copy' is the only version available today in reprint.

First Edition Hard Covers

 

     In the printing run, the first three runs were pretty small, but identical in every way. Each following impression was larger than the last, making the later impressions less and less rare. Although any first edition LOTR books from the 50's are pretty rare to come by, those with the lowest print runs in the first-third impressions are the most sought after.

 

Impression/Printings Page

   
     First editions signed by Tolkien are exceedingly rare as he did almost all his signing in his home. By the time the LOTR books were popular, he was in the twilight of his life and enjoyed to stay inside and be in his room to himself. The Hobbit, although written earlier, has much more signed copies in circulation as he was more available, was working, and was often seen around.

First Edition 'licensed' Paper Backs

     First edition first printings go for around $10,000 in any condition, in hard cover. Each following impression can almost cut the price by a third, depending on the market availability. Pirate ACE paperbacks can be found relatively cheap, sometimes less than $20.00 for a good example. Personally, I think the ACE editions are great little paper backs with a great history, and don't understand why they are not worth more than they are. You almost never see them, the covers are cool, and man.. what a story. All paperback editions from 1963-65 are all possibly first editions. Four different publishers were selling the same book, at the same time, cheapening the market for the paperbacks I love, but also making them easier to collect.

     For the record, I have several editions, copies and printings of LOTR.. but sadly, no first edition hard covers.