u/Josh3321

I know this is a modernized spelling and abridged version, but I think it’s been a good way for me to ease into the archaic language. I’ve been looking things up every few sentences to make sure I understand the words and the meaning.

Edit: this is not abridged

It’s been very fun and rewarding. I just watched the movie Excalibur last night (John Boorman) and that was a great movie.

Just downloaded the Naxos audiobook read by Bill Homewood too.

I’m definitely going down a rabbit hole lol!

I wanted to share the deluxe cabinet from my collection. These are for the most part all in print except for some of the Houghton Mifflin volumes. I plan to do a post about my experience collecting the Harper Collins deluxe slipcase line (a rather frustrating experience).

I’m currently on my second reading of The Silmarillion, after that is a reread of Unfinished Tales and then I plan to tackle History of Middle Earth for the first time.

I have been growing the Houghton Mifflin collection. These are just the recent additions and they are first edition / first prints.

I find it hilarious that Children of Húrin and Sigurd and Gudrún are the only two Houghton Mifflin (/ Harcourt) volumes printed for the deluxe slipcase series and they didn’t even make the spines match.

Just wanted to share my initial experience with collecting the Harper Collins deluxe line in 2026.

TLDR: there’s still quality control issues with this series but I am happy with many of the books; did not receive any printings from China (just Italy and India).

After reading copious posts here on Reddit, YouTube videos, Tolkien Collector Guide posts, etc., I knew that this quality of this series was inconsistent at best.

I have received many books that I’m very happy with (Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Letters of JRRT), which is why I wanted to complete the series (and I like some of the design choices such as the way the maps fold out). But I have encountered some binding and printing problems.

Some books have signatures that aren’t bound up against the spine (one was printed by Replika Press India and the other Brilliant Printers India). Both those books also have ink stains on several pages and one has some excess glue on the tail band. On one of those books the pages are actually coming loose at the bottom. Another book has excess stitching coming out of the rear end paper (Rotolito).

There’s other issues that aren’t as bad, but these egregiously bad books will be exchanged. Interestingly enough, none of the books are printed in China. So far it’s all been Italy (Graphicom and Rotolito) and India (Replika and Brilliant Printers) (except Letters from Father Christmas does not specify and it is guessed that it is printed in China).

I’ll post a report of my experience collecting this series in 2026 (including which impressions I received and where they were printed). I placed orders with Blackwell’s, Awesomebooks, and Kenny’s, so I can share my experience with them with me as a buyer from the US.

Picture 1 - the signatures are coming loose near the bottom. Picture 2 - some of the signatures are pulled more forward.

Picture 3 - another new book - some of the signatures are pulled more forward (I.e. the back of the signature isn’t up against the spine. These are at least all glued in and aren’t a loose at the bottom.

In any other book I own the signatures are next to each other and flush against the spine. These seem to be defects from the printer, but I wanted to confirm to make sure I understand how the book is expected to be.

This is a cheap paperback I was trying to improve the spine with some glue. This is just practice and learning how PVA glue is applied.

Pics 1 and 2 show how the spine opens to that one part because the spine is cracked or broken in there (not sure on terminology).

Pic 3 shows an attempted repair to that crack (there’s two pages that were like this). I put a thin line of PVA glue across it and closed the book and put books on top of it.

The glue spread out, obviously, causing the pages to stick together more than I wanted.

What tool should I use to be able to apply a thinner line of PVA glue in that crevice? Any other tips?

The goal is just to have it open more normally, instead of hinging open to that crack.

Here is my Tolkien audiobook collection! Physical media isn’t for everyone, especially when it comes to audiobooks. Personally, I like to have the physical ownership of the media.

One bonus you get is with Children of Húrin where Christopher Tolkien reads his own introduction - that is missing from the audiobook version (at least the one I have on Audible).

The most difficult audiobook to find was The Silmarillion narrated by Andy Serkis (especially me being in the US).

The Hobbit and LotR narrated by Serkis is sold brand new in the US as a print on demand by a company called Downpour (they print for Recorded Books).

Some of the audiobooks come with maps and booklets.

I absolutely love Samuel and Timothy West - they also read The Letters of JRRT and their performance is fantastic. Samuel reads for Tolkien and Timothy reads all the letter information and notes. Samuel infuses just the right emotion into it making it an engrossing audiobook (available digitally only).

There’s more audiobooks to collect (Sir Gawain, Father Christmas Letters) that are sold new and there’s also the BBC and NPR radio dramas, as well as the BBC Tales from the Perilous Realms. I really want to get the Tolkien Audio Collection on CD.

Front row -
The Hobbit, LotR, and Silmarillion all narrated by Andy Serkis

Unfinished Tales, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin narrated by Timothy and Samuel West

The Fall of Númenor narrated by Samuel West and Brian Sibley

The Children of Húrin narrated by the incomparable Sir Christopher Lee

Back row -
The Hobbit, LotR narrated by Rob Inglis

The Silmarillion narrated by Martin Shaw

There was a post about this the other day. This is what Amazon is shipping as of now - HMH dust jacket with a Mariner book. I wanted a William Morrow imprint (don’t care that it’s shorter than the rest of the series). It was shipped/sold by Amazon and listed as William Morrow. They must have some of the older stock still on the shelves.

Going to try some other retailers. eBay doesn’t have any William Morrow imprints (with pictures). Awesomebooks has it (for more than double the price).

Just posting as a heads up for anyone in the US ordering this book. Of course, the Harper Collins full size book is always an option! I personally like having the US imprints for my collection.

I wanted to make a guide about the 1988 Houghton Mifflin (HM) edition and the current printing on offer from William Morrow (WM). On the surface, they appear to be an exact match. But don't be hasty! Let's examine a little closer...

TLDR: The books are quite different and HM is (in my opinion) superior. HM has better paper, better text reproduction, sewn binding, and cloth bound boards vs. the newer WM edition having mass market paperback style paper, inconsistent text reproduction, glued binding, and paper bound boards.

CORRECTION: the captions for pics 11 and 12 are wrong. The older Houghton Mifflin edition is pictured on top, and the newer William Morrow is on the bottom. The William Morrow lays flat (basically a trade paperback with boards).

Now, on to the (exhaustive) details...

You can quickly tell the difference once you have the books in hand - the HM edition is a higher quality production, in my opinion.

In pic 1 we see the HM edition is slightly thicker. The books are also heavier than the newer ones - I believe the paper is denser in the older books (the paper also feels smoother than the new WM edition, which has coarser paper). The HM edition has cloth bound boards (pic 2) vs. the paper bound WM edition. It's not the nicest book cloth, but I prefer it over the paper boards. In the pictures the paper ones may appear nicer - but in person, the HM ones have a better feel to them (and more premium feel).

The ring motif is stamped in two colors on the older HM edition and WM has a larger single color foil stamping. The slipcase and dust jacket artwork is an exact match, except the newer versions have more red in the color reproduction.

In pic 7 you can again see the HM is slightly thicker than the newer book. In pics 9 and 10 you can see the difference in binding. In the old HM edition you can see the signatures (which do also have glue - but I believe is also sewn). The HM edition has a rather tight binding and will not lay flat, whereas the new WM edition lays flat easily - see pic 11 (the WM edition is basically a trade paperback with boards).

In pic 12 you can see the comparison of text reproduction. The WM edition has parts of the text that are darker and thicker and others that are lighter and thinner. The older HM edition has more consistent text reproduction (thought it is not perfect). The maps are exactly the same - same size and same paper / printing. The old HM edition has textured brown endpapers and the new WM edition has plain white endpapers.

The spines are very different - the older HM spines are (essentially) the same design that had been used for US hardcovers since the 1967 second edition (pic 16). The WM spines are stamped in a copper colored foil with a different design (which admittedly does look attractive, but I prefer the older design).

Now of course, if you want Houghton Mifflin, you'll need to buy used. I often see these in pretty rough shape on the used marketplaces, but you can definitely get good condition ones for a good price. It takes some patience! Also, you can occasionally find these still new in the shrink-wrap.

**Note - I am unsure if the changes in this book occurred exactly with the switchover to William Morrow, or if some later Houghton Mifflin prints switched over to the cost saving materials and production. If you see pics of the books (especially without the dust jackets) you'll be able to tell what you're getting.

Overall, I think it's worth seeking a good condition copy of the Houghton Mifflin edition. The William Morrow reprints are just trade paperbacks with boards - but you do get a very nice slipcase and dust jackets!

Do you have either of these editions? I am curious to hear about your experience.

I hope this guide was helpful!

I was organizing my collection and this is a staging area with some recent acquisitions that I thought I’d share. I was happy to pick up the Houghton Mifflin edition of the Tolkien Family Album as well as some other books about Tolkien (The Inklings and Author of the Century). Also been working on some US trade paperbacks.

Pictured here is the 1973 Hobbit, Houghton Mifflin edition, 10th printing (1978) and 1987 Lord of the Rings, 29th printing. This was the first one-volume Lord of the Rings printed in the US (originally printed in 1974 with a revised edition printed in 1987). This Hobbit edition is still printed today (different publisher).

I love the faux leather, definitely has a '70s vibe!

Are these are all of the William Morrow "signature" trade paperbacks?

I saw an Amazon listing for the William Morrow version of Smith of Wootton Major signature paperback with a release date of August 18. However, the product page uses the HarperCollins cover photo. Also, it is not yet listed with the forthcoming releases on Tolkien Guide. Excuse the photoshopping of the one-volume LotR edition, I haven't picked it up yet!

It's interesting how the cover designs differ between HarperCollins and William Morrow.

I wonder if the William Morrow collection will eventually have the same volumes as the HarperCollins collection?

Found another still shrink wrapped Houghton Mifflin book - this one is the 1991 one volume Alan Lee (the last picture is from before I took it out of the shrink wrap). Very nice reproduction of the illustrations on glossy paper and nice cloth boards.

This particular one was printed around 1995, based on the dust jacket price and copyright page (this edition didn’t use print numbers but Tolkienbooks.us helped me identify it).

This edition is a bit unwieldy to read holding up (unless you want really buff forearms). But, it’s great for reading at the table - it lays flat pretty much anywhere in the book.

Recently added this box set to the collection, still new in the shrink wrap (for a short while it remained that way). I am a huge John Howe fan - I love how mystical and fantastical his artwork feels, while also capturing the mood of the scene. LotR cover illustrations by John Howe, and The Hobbit cover and chapter header illustrations by David Wyatt.

Included in the first shot is another art piece by John Howe (that is in need of framing).