Why I Sold My J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
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In this video I talk about why I sold my J.R.R. Tolkien deluxe editions from HarperCollins, my issues with that publisher and which edition of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion that I want to get in the future.
Time-table:
Background 00:00
Why I sold my Tolkien Collection 01:57
Folio Society Tolkien Set 06:04
Outro 09:03
#lordoftherings #jrrtolkien #tolkien #lotr
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What do you think of the HarperCollins deluxe editions of J.R.R. Tolkien's works?
I really enjoy the hardcover editions from the 90s. I own a blue hardcover, clothbound, 3-volume, Alan Lee illustrated set that lays flat when reading. They were some of the first editons that featured Alan Lee’s illustrations. I bought mine second-hand and I like to think they’ve been well loved and have a lot of soul. Also gives me some childhood nostalgia.
I once found myself in a very similar situation. I decided to go with the folio standard editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. I wasn’t 100% confident in my decision until they arrived. In fact, they are everything I wanted them to be. They are so much nicer than the pictures I had seen. They are bound in paper, but it is very fine paper and they feel very deluxe. I’m extremely happy with the look and quality of the set.
I think I will keep my 50th anniversary edition of LOTR because it was my first ever (English) edition of the book, which I got back in 2007 for Christmas. I also adore Last Years Tolkien illustrated edition.
I really admire you for having the „courage“ to get rid of stuff you feel you don’t Need or want. The folio society edition is one I‘ve had my eye on myself, so if you decide to get it I would be really interested in a review/ unboxing.
Anyway, have a nice day.
Definitely understand your sentiments about Harper Collin's designs (or lack thereof) for their "deluxe" editions. So many yet they've only really put out 2 bindings that appeal to me; their super deluxe, full leather volumes of Children of Hurin and Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. The fact they named them "super deluxe" kinds tells you everything about how they see and treat their normal "deluxe" editions.
I own the Folio standard editions of LOTR, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion ( and the recent Limited edition ). I enjoy them as a reading copy ; they are durable, have a good binding and are comfortable to hold whilst reading. The artwork, as I'm sure you are aware, isn't by Alan Lee or Ted Naismith but I find it quite pleasing and unique.
Another option for you would be Easton Press, but they don't ship outside the U.S ( I suspect this is down to a licensing agreement with Harper Collins ) and they don't contain any artwork which is a negative for me.
I know you've railed against the quality of Harper Collins editions in this video but I would strongly recommend you have a look at their "The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set: Illustrated edition". I think it represents the best value for money ; the content is exactly the same as in the deluxe editions but for a fraction of the price.
I have the three standard edition Folio Society releases of Tolkien's major works. They are beautiful together on the shelf. I was quite pleased with my purchase.
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Made with love from Sweden.
Some books have a soul. So true!
I know what you mean. Quality is all over the place with Harper Collins. I keep wishing that they would publish a 6-volume edition constructed like the facsimile Hobbit. That book is a pleasure to handle and the quality is perfect. And it's still quite cheap
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When Allen & Unwin was sold to HarperCollins (1990), it resulted with the plethora of editions, which one would have thought it would be better for collectors but all said, errors aside, it became simply exploitative. The first UK paperback edition I owned was still an Unwin edition and I regret having given it away when 'upgrading' and moving to a new apartment. That edition ended up still being my favourite one for its font size and readability, as well as retaining the Anglicised text. I think collectors best keep their favourite editions and be careful about getting rid too early these. Once gone, you can't get these old editions back.
I own the Folio Society standard set and I like it. Pictures don't do the spines justice. I don't know how they compare to the HarperCollins ed. in this video, but they're not the best experience to read, at least if you compare them to my HarperCollins 2014 ed. (also seperate books, but with thin paper).
As a swede I would like to get my hands on the Tove Jansson The Hobbit ed., but it's going for a lot.
To be fair the standard illustrated hardback editions are pretty good.
Harper Collins also seem to have started printing a new style of deluxe editions with illustrated slipcase, cloth bound with a small illustration on the front (as opposed to quarter bound with gold logo). They only have done the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales so far I don't know if they will eventually do the whole collection and if they are of good quality or just a money grab...
I have the Easton Press 3 volume LOTR. I picked them up individually on the used market as I think EP overcharge for the set (and they refuse to sell to some countries - they wouldn't let me and I'm only in Canada). For my 3-in-1 LOTR, I went with the HC Author's illustrated deluxe edition, but maybe here nor there since you wanted to stay away from HC.
These are some interesting thoughts - I agree with you about the Folio limited editions but I’d go further and say I’m not a fan of the standard LOTR folio design either - and there’s no consistency with the other books outside LOTR (the main narrative) itself.
I have the HarperCollins deluxe editions of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales - weirdly my Unfinished Tales has the tight binding problem but The Silmarillion does not. I got them for £45 each and can’t make my mind up if they were worth it.
I have the (not labelled deluxe) boxset of hardback illustrated LOTR editions that HarperCollins released in 2020 and I really like them, definitely worth the £62 I paid. I will revisit them to check that they open up fully; I did re-read Fellowship using that version and I don’t remember having any issues whereas I know my deluxe Unfinished Tales has the tight binding problem you described.
Never went for any of the Deluxe Editions due to price and weight (I use services of a delivery company, hence additional payment goes for delivering them to my country). Never even thought of getting any of the Folio Society editions - they are even more pricey and, probably, heavy. I decided to go for standard editions of HarperCollins though, and I like them.
As for the paperbacks... Of all the paperback books I own, the 1979 Unwin Paperbacks edition of The Hobbit is the best. Still all pages are in place, still opens softly and a pleasure to hold in hands. Got it as a bonus item in my box.
The deluxe editions by harper Collins are very good into my eyes (even if some of them couldn't be opened entirely). But you have to own the 1ST PRINTINGS which are bound either in UK or Italy. Almost all of the reprints are bound in China and are far poorer in quality. (colours changes, not the same paper, misalignments on the spine, slipcase too big that not fit the book, etc...)
Great video! I am a bit of a Tolkien collector myself. I never collected the "deluxe" editions because, well, they're not particularly deluxe - as you pointed out. I do, however, collect the illustrated hardcovers published fairly recently by HarperCollins. They are not too expensive and are very nice quality for a standard hardcover. Plus, they all match (the three main works, plus a number of other works compiled by Christopher Tolkien). I also love the single-volume edition with the Alan Lee illustrations (with the blue spine). For a non-HarperCollins edition, I think those small-ish Folio Society editions are the way to go! My only complaint is why they made The Hobbit red and The Lord of the Rings green. Feels like they should be reversed.
Thank you! I will wait and see some more before I decide on an edition! :-) When I have decided I will definitely make a video
The Hobbit is red as an allusion to the Red Book of Westmarch.
I have the standard FS (Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion). They're nice and look amazing on the shelf but they're a slightly lower quality than other similarly priced FS books. Maybe the royalties for publishing Tolkien are high? The first copy of the Hobbit had a messed up binding which was obvious immediately just going through the pages. It was painless to get a new one sent out though, which had no issues.
Agree that the recent limited edition was too expensive (or at least not special enough for the price).
There's also the Easton Press set but unless they're higher quality than other Easton books it's probably not worth it.
You might consider Easton Press. Quality, leather bindings and quite durable from what I've heard.
Happy birthday brother 🥳
Thank you Akash! 😄
I only have the standard HarperCollins (The set of LOTR and The Hobbit. Black cover comes with sleeve). And I think they are not a good edition. The paper quality is poor and the font used was awful. The words looked too tight, jammed packed within a page. You can see that they were still using the same plate from 1970s or something. The letters appear jagged because of the poor printing. I bought it without checking the inside. My mistake. The cover looked nice enough, though.
I love them and think they're lovely 🥰, but they are too expensive. I can understand your decision and your misgivings.
A true appreciation of Tolkien is centred around what he wrote and said and illustrated, not around collecting fancy and expensive editions. I still cherish my old 1968 paperback of The Hobbit. The only real worth of the various publications is how much actual Tolkien content they have. It is not about money. The Tolkien Estate in 2017 sold rights to Amazon for $250 million! HarperCollins has in 2022 reissued The Lord of the Rings with covers featuring images from Amazon's Rings of Power, which has NOTHING to do with The Lord of the Rings. It is all just about making money $$$$$$. :-(
Appreciate this much love for the content of book
I owned an even larger collection of the Deluxe Harper Collins editions and ended up selling most of them as well, take my word on it that 90% of these deluxe edition are Chinese made and of very poor quality.
I find myself in a similar dilemma. I truly do not like FS's current illustrations (i just can't take them seriously) and agree fully with your assessment of the LotR LE. I still have my fingers crossed that some day, they will ditch the current offering and do a new version... A man can dream. As for other publishers, I'm not too sure. I have not yet found an edition that satisfies my JRR itch ;-)
Perhaps I will wait then! There's bound to come something . . . I hope ;-)
I very much recommend the 1987 Unwyn&Hyman three volume edition
If you go for the standard folio go for second hand editions from bath press. Ones sold from folio store at the moment have had lots of reported issues.
Oh! What kind of issues?
The most common is the print quality lots of uneven printing with the blacks coming off very faded and patchy throughout and the paper used in the China printers is the Yu long pure instead of abbey wove which people normally say they prefer and finnaly binding quality of the paper a little bit off. I have the path press lotr standard and I got the silmarillion from folio direct and notice and quality drop.
Bath press*
I recommend the Easton Press editions of Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion and the Hobbit.
I will check them out! Thanks! :-)
@@PontusPresents a heads up (in case you didn't know) that Easton Press only add a fancy cover over the contents from other publishers. Likely Harper Collins.
I've never understood why people buy the special edition of all three LOTR books in one volume.
It looks wonderful but it's totally impractical for reading due to it being the size and weight of an early medieval Bible.
I like to fall asleep reading and awake with the book on my chest. I think I'd sustain physical injuries if I fell asleep with a tome of that weight on my chest.
But the edition I saw is a breathtakingly attractive volume.
I read 80% of the time at my desk so big volumes are not an issue! 😊
I do almost the whole of my "serious" pleasure reading lying on the sofa, where I sleep these days. It's too narrow to sleep on my back while holding books. I therefore read lying on my side, thus am not exposed to waking with a book on my chest or face. Before my rump gave out I slept on a mattress, on my back and woke many a time with a book draped over face or chest. Sometimes I'd wake to find that I was still holding the book in reading position! I'm an elder now. Last year, printed paper books became too difficult to hold for extended periods of time while lying down. It's the primary reason I converted to e-books at that time, which I can manage with no problem.
the return of the Lisan al Gaib
😁
It's Bosnia and Herzegovina where my Alan Lee Illustrated edition of Hobbit & Lord of the rings (2020) is printed. I needed to order numerous copies before I gotten the proper quality from amazon (never ordering books from there again). That edition is satsfying to me senses but what Ive found most pleasing is that chinese printed Houghton Mifflin (2013) printed, semi flexible, gray with gold edition of a single tome Lord of the Rings. Even gotten 2, one for reading the other for looking pretty.
Otherwise I think H&C publishing employs the corporate moneygrab tactics which (we all know that) is damnable and appaling to a sensitive book loving, consumer base.
Amazon tends to damage books in shipping. I don't bother any more.
most of the profit of these new editions comes from countless people who have the books on their shelves and have never read a single page; few LOTR fans actually know the vast difference between the movies and the books. The Peter Jackson films strayed far from the feel of the novels, I don't know why no one admits it. Not a single scene in any of the 3 movies made me feel like I was in Middle-earth, with its rewritten Hollywood dialogue, hollywood added comedy and all the crap that got on my nerves.
I’m considering selling my deluxe editions as well. With every new release I’ve thought the standard hardback versions look better. The deluxe editions don’t even have the cover art.
The word ‘deluxe’ is just thrown on any old product these days, it’s virtually meaningless.
Yup, and those standard editions are like 1/4 of the price!
I love booktube problems because they're so wholesome/non-serious in the grand scheme of life: "your BOOK didn't OPEN!" 😆
(I feel you, though, i also cannot stand for a tightly bound book)
Lol, man, most of our problems are not problems at all. Not just in the book sphere. Once you realise that, your life becomes much better and less stressful.
01. No interest beyond Main works
02. Too expensive, the quality is not there
Are you a fan of CS Lewis?
I haven’t read much of his works, so I wouldn’t say so!
Why are you sat in a sauna? Doesn't the steam damage your beautiful books?
DID YOU KNOW that the Tolkien's came to the UK from East Prussia but none still live there due to the area being taken over by Russia after WWII.
The Gielgud's came from the Baltics. It's hard to imagine more Anglophile people than JRR Tolkien or Sir John Gielgud but they had Central European heritage.
😂