Tolkien Lord of the Rings DLE

We have been talking about this for years, a DLE of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Well Folio Society has finally done it in spectacular fashion including the illustrations of Alan Lee. It is also signed by Alan Lee. It is limited to 1,000 copies. Even with the hefty price tag this will go I suspect within a few days.

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-lord-of-the-rings-limited-edition.html

>1 HugoDumas:
Thank you for the reference. It looks like a great production. While out of my price range, for folks who adore Tolkein this looks like a nice set.

I expect they will eventually add The Hobbit in a matching series with these three, as any LOTR collection is incomplete without that book.

>1 HugoDumas: Nice with illustrations, but I prefer my Lord of the Rings first edition, fifth printing, three volumes. Also, for modern mass production publisher, FS want too much money for it. It has no historic value of any kind and with just artist signature, it does not command that much money. Never mind the design. So ugly

The set is getting a lot of criticism on the Devotees forum because of the covers which are perceived as being poorly designed, but personally I like them. I will happily pass this one up, though, first, because I’m not a sufficiently big Tolkien fan; second, because I almost never buy a book taller than 11 inches; and, third, because of the stratospheric price.

Folio continues to overcharge their American customers, in this case by $200 over the current exchange rate.

>2 sdawson: I agree that it looks like a great production, and I've purchased. I expect you're right about a future edition The Hobbit (and perhaps, The Silmarillion, as well).

>4 jroger1: It is getting a pretty big (and unexpected) amount of criticism, though I expect a fair amount of this is sour grapes from folks who can't afford the edition and had hoped to purchase one.

As far as the exchange rate, that is quite annoying, and it seems that FS does this on their Canadian and Australian sites, as well. I expect they do it to protect themselves from fluctuations in the currency exchange rates since they're routinely selling items at fixed prices outside of their home currency, but on a purchase this size, the discrepancy is quite annoying.

>5 whytewolf1: congratulations on your purchase. It makes sense to next publish the Alan Lee illustrated Hobbit and the Ted Nasmith Illustrated Silmarillion to go with this gorgeous DLE of LOTR. I have the HMH hardcover editions and they are stunning. For those not familiar with Tolkien artist Nasmith here is a link to his art. https://www.tednasmith.com/site-map/j-r-r-tolkien/the-silmarillion/

>6 HugoDumas: Thank you very kindly. I expect you're correct about The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. And you are quite right. Ted Nasmith is an amazing artist, as well. :)

Wow! That really is gorgeous.

🎼 If I had a million dollars 🎶
(Bare Naked Ladies tune…)

This new Folio Society DLE is certainly more attractive than the last edition, which is going for around $5,000 on the secondary market for the LOTR and matching Hobbit and Silmarillion. https://www.ebay.com/itm/JRR-Tolkien-The-Lord-of-The-Rings-Folio-Society-2003-Li...

Like many - I am a fair/casual fan. I loved the movies when they came out. I read The Hobbit in HS. Haven’t read anything else. The work (Tolkien) has influenced so much of modern science fiction for sure.

I love Foilio’s website! So much better than EP. That said - Their books are just not my style. I think they are extremely well done and their quality seems to be on par as well (from what I’ve read as I don’t own any).

These days the numbered limitation of books like this seems to be rising. Having them limited to 1000 I think is right on the fence. Not too much and not too little. The lower the number the higher the price tends to be.

If this was a subject that was more dear to me and a style that was more to my liking, I wouldn’t hesitate!

Whoever decides to purchase them, please post pictures “of your precious”

>10 GOBOGIE: I will try to post pictures once mine arrives.

Makes me simile you do!

Only less than 100 remaining if anyone is on the fence.

SOLD OUT!

Heartbreaking seeing those disappointed recipients of damaged Folio Society LOTR Deluxe edition. There are some pretty serious QC flaws and no replacement copies according to FS.

My copy arrived today with no discernible damage or defects. This edition is really stunning in person. None of the photos that I have seen accurately portray the silver blocking or the embossing of the spines. The tipped illustrations are also of high quality. I was on the fence for this one, primarily because it was not fully leather bound, but the Alan Lee illustrations and signature won me over. The dark blue cloth is fine. The design is based off of Aragorn's outfit in "The Return of the King".

The cloth covered map is printed on really nice "canvas" like paper. My only gripe is that the maps are fairly small. The maps are exactly the same as the ones in my 50th anniversary edition, but about 1/2 scale. They would have made nice end papers as well.

I have many EP DLEs and would like to see EP create some Tokien DLEs.

>16 SlabO: that would be cool if EP produced some Tolkien DLEs!

Good review with lots of detailed photos: https://www.collectiblebookvault.com/post/lord-of-the-rings-folio-society-limite...

Thanks so much for the link. They are stunning for sure!

>19 GOBOGIE: I love my set. I think they're wonderful. It's kind of amazing, though, that EP hasn't done a high-end set like this yet. Where are the Tolkien DLEs from EP?

>20 whytewolf1:

That’s more of a question for the Tolkien estate. EP would make a set if they had permission to do so.

>21 treereader: I hate this seemingly perpetual copyrights. It's been 70 years since they were first published! I think they should pass into the public domain by now.