Posts Tagged ‘The Lord of the Rings’

Library Addition: Deluxe Edition of The Lord of the Rings

Monday, December 5th, 2022

I rarely make impulses purchases, but I saw this listed from a small press publisher’s regular email at $250, and when I went to the product page to get a better look at it, there was a small notice declaring that fulfillment would be done by Amazon. Well, then, why not just buy it from them?

Taking a look on the Amazon page for the book, they were selling it at $150, so I went ahead and bought it.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Deluxe Edition. William Morrow, 2021 (stated; actually published October 2022). First edition hardback thus, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase (with a cutout for the eye of Sauron on the book itself), sans dust jacket, as issued, with oversized folding maps of Middle Earth and Gondor/Mordor, cardstock reprint of The King’s Letter (from Aragon to Samwise) in silver tengwar on one side with a en English translation on the other, “Leaves from the Book of Mazarbul” in a waxpaper envelope, and the rear shrinkwraped book description laid in. A sturdy, gilt-edged omnibus edition containing all three volumes, with Tolkien’s own artwork and Middle Earth language calligraphy as full page color plates.

Even the box it ships to you is way too cool to throw away:

And the map pattern continues all the way around the box.

It’s a very attractive production, and if you’re interested in it, Amazon has now lowered the price to $140.01.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Books, Fantasy | No Comments »

Stavanger Eye of Sauron 2.0

Monday, January 7th, 2013

So back in February last year, I took a business trip to Stavanger, Norway. There I stayed in a Hotel that had a large tapestry I dubbed “The Eye of Sauron”:

Now comes word that Stavanger has another Eye of Sauron.

Cities outside Stavanger are obviously suffering an Eye of Sauron Gap…

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Fantasy | 3 Comments »

Galadriel As You’ve Never Seen Her Him Before

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Earlier this year, science fiction writer and North Carolina State University professor John Kessel declared that “I know the world does not care, but nobody could pay me enough money to go see The Hobbit. Well, maybe someone could, but nobody is going to.”

The Internet knows how to respond to such statements.

Soon a fundraiser for the SFWA Emergency Medical fund was launched, with various levels of funding support:

$250 — Prof. Kessel goes to see The Hobbit (the upcoming Peter Jackson version, in a movie theater before the end of the year, no cop-out home screenings of the Bass-Rankin animated classic)
$750 — Prof. Kessel will either before or after the film eat Denny’s The Hobbit-themed Ring Burger
$1000 — Prof. Kessel will dress as Gandalf when watching the film
$2500 — Prof. Kessel will dress as Galadriel when watching the film

And the result?

Well, feast your eyes:

The last picture is with John’s “Hobbit escort” Kate Maddalena, who took these pictures.

Click any picture to embiggen and more fully display all of John Kessel as Galadriel’s, um, glory.

If you’re impressed by this outstanding display of selflessness (or else you have a fetish for really tall, butch trannies), you too can donate to the SFWA Medical Fund.

You might also pick up one of John’s swell books, like Good News From Outer Space, Corrupting Dr. Nice, or his short story collection The Pure Product.

(And thanks to John and Kate Maddalena for permission to use these photos.)

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Movies, pics, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »

Howard Waldrop and I Review The Hobbit

Monday, December 17th, 2012

Over at Locus Online.

I liked it more than Howard did.

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Fantasy, Movies | No Comments »

Book Acquisitions: The History of Middle Earth Volumes IV—XII

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

The week before Armadillocon, Half Price Books had their usual coupon sale, which starts out with a coupon for 40% off one item Monday-Tuesday, 30% Wednesday Thursday, etc., ending with a 50% off coupon on Sunday.

While shopping there Tuesday, I noticed that someone had sold them what appeared to be almost all of the Christopher Tolkien-edited The History of Middle Earth volumes. I asked management if they could apply my 40% coupon to all books in the series, and after looking at them they agreed. I ended up taking Volume IV-XII, because the earlier volumes either had some wear or were later printings. In fact, at the register they ended up taking 50% off each volume, each of which were $14.99, so I think I bought all of them at $7.49 each.

The UK editions precede, but the American editions aren’t particularly easy to find either. All of these are either Fine/Fine or Fine/Fine-, with some minor dust jacket wrinkles.

  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume V: The Lost Road and Other Writing. Houghton Mifflin, 1987. First American edition.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume IV: The Shaping of Middle Earth. Houghton Mifflin, 1986. First American edition, Fine/Fine.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume VI: The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings Part One. Houghton Mifflin, 1988.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume VII: The Treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings Part Two. Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume VIII: The War of the Ring: The History of the Lord of the Rings Part Three. Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume IX: Sauron Defeated: The History of the Lord of the Rings Part Four. Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume X: Morgoth’s Ring: The Later Simarillion Part One. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume XI: The War of the Jewels: The Later Simarillion Part Two. Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. (edited by Christopher Tolkien) The History of Middle Earth Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle Earth. Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

    • Tags:, , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, pics | 1 Comment »

    You Could Own John Wayne’s Copy of The Lord of the Rings

    Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

    Heritage Auction is auctioning off tons of items from the estate of John Wayne. Being the canny man he was, he saved just about everything from his movie career: scripts, outfits, awards, you name it. There’s a treasure-trove of Hollywood memorabilia going under the hammer, including letters from Ronald Reagan, Katherine Hepburn, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, and about a hundred other luminaries.

    I did take a look at the books being sold from his library, but all of them have opening bids substantially above market minus the Wayne connection. However, I did want to point out his owning copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Not firsts, of course (Wayne seemed to be an avid reader, but not a book collector), but that beautiful second edition Houghton-Mifflin LOTR set done to bring the books back into copyright after the unauthorized (but borderline legal) Ace books edition. This is the edition my father read to me from as a child, and it’s the edition I own.

    Heritage sends out a Heritage Magazine for the Intelligent Collector as a freebie to people who bid in their auctions, and they had a fascinating interview with his son Ethan Wayne about growing up living with his father, and about how random people would come around. One time John Wayne saw some guys coming up his dock, grabbed a gun and said “Who are and what do you want?” “Golly, Mr. Wayne, we’re Marines. We just heard that you lived here.” “Well then come on up and have a drink.” And they sat around drinking until 1 o’clock in the morning.

    Sounds like he was a swell guy.

    Edited to Add: John Wayne’s Tolkien collection sold for a hefty $2,868.

    Tags:, , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Movies | 4 Comments »