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noWizardme
Half-elven
Dec 3 2016, 10:20pm
Post #1 of 17
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An ignorant question for knowledgeable bibliophiles
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Which is the most pleasing edition of LOTR, and why?
It's an ignorant question because personally I'm very interested in the story in the abstract, aside from production considerations. So I'm most likely missing the pleasures of an edition that is really good physically. I think - That's neither good nor bad: it's just me. But I'd like to try to appreciate what I might be missing vicariously, by asking this. I suspect there an be no definitive answer, but I'd like to read a good discussion. I'd like to read about what the Fellowship of the Room enjoys.
What I work with is:
Memories of an old omnibus edition. No appendices. Bought with pocket money ("allowance" in US English) UK purchase, 1970s; picture of silver and gold trees on cover. I read it until the spine broke some time in the 1980's.Dont know exactly what it was (but the lack of Appendices and fold-out maps was a bit of a sacrifice in retrospect) but I'd recognise that cover instantly from a screenshot...
Kindle edition 2009: very servicAble for quick look-ups and searches. I re-entered Middle-earth reading this while sitting in a darkened bedroom at bedtime to reassure a small child who was frightened of the dark.
60th Anniversary edition, a 50th birthday present. Lovely to handle and has the wonderful Hammond & Scull's Readers Companion as a fourth volume in the slip case.
But I have probably missed a dark and dangerous bibliophiles journey- and never came to the bibliophiles equivalent of Rivendell.
~~~~~~
The Sixth read-through of LOTR continues until Christmas. All chapters now have volunteer leaders. Schedule here; http://newboards.theonering.net/...i?post=916172#916172
A wonderful list of links to previous chapters in the LOTR read-through (and to previous read-throughs) is curated by our very own 'squire' here http://users.bestweb.net/...-SixthDiscussion.htm
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Dec 4 2016, 7:56am
Post #2 of 17
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It really depends on what you're doing.
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I have it in paperback, ~2001 vintage. I had read it long before, but mostly forgotten till the movies came out. I have a 3-vol. Alan Lee version that I gave to my then-fiancé-now-husband. I have the 50th Anniv. Ed. signed by Royd Tolkien. I have it on my Kindle. And I have a boot-leg pdf that someone gave me a link to back in the day. The Alan Lee is the prettiest, by far. I am very happy about the 50th Anniv. Ed. because it's the book JRRT wanted. But I only really use the paperbacks, the Kindle, and the pdf. The paperbacks and pdf are what I use to prepare TORn discussion posts. the Kindle is what I read in the middle of the night or when I can't sleep because I'm upset about something -- it calms me. The others are prized (but largely unused) possessions.
Not sure if this helps.
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CuriousG
Half-elven
Dec 4 2016, 9:31pm
Post #4 of 17
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Kindle is best for searching, of course, and when mobility is needed
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I have a long bus ride to work and can both check TORN and look up things on my iPad's Kindle app while on the commute. But I almost never use my Kindle app at home, except to search for keywords (such as when I forget where "Queen Beruthiel" is mentioned).
I have an ancient 3-paperback set from the early 1970s, read first by a cousin (who purchased it), then my grandmother, then it wound up with me, and it went through decades of re-reads but is now mostly a keepsake since the spines are broken (and both my cousin and grandmother are gone, so it's a nice memento linking the 3 of us). I bought a new 3-paperback set to read for pleasure when I want to, because I like the feel of paperbacks.
I have 2 hardback single-volume editions: one is in red leather, meant to evoke the Red Book of Westmarch. I prefer that one to the Alan Lee one--no idea why, just some esthetic thing.
I have my volumes scattered between my living room, bedroom, and guest room, and depending on what's closest to the computer I'm using (desktop or laptop), I never have to travel far to look something up (though finding it can still be a problem if I don't have the right words, such as when my memory garbles the Bree innkeeper's name, and I look in vain for "Buttercup" or some other mis-remembered variation of Butterbur")
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Eledhwen
Forum Admin
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Dec 6 2016, 1:46pm
Post #5 of 17
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I had a really lovely one-volume edition
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It was a bit like a Bible because it had that very thin paper they use for Bibles to keep them manageable, so all three books were in one volume which was slimmer than each of my three paperbacks. I took it to New Zealand with me so I had LOTR on hand (this was pre-Kindle days) and it was sadly destroyed when I was sailing in 2009 and we had a bit of a shipwreck (seriously - but that's another story). It got wet enough that I didn't think it would ever dry out properly.
My original paperbacks were old Unwin editions, bought somewhere in the late 1980s. I lent FOTR to a friend and it came back with sand in the pages and the binding pretty knackered and at some point chunks of pages started falling out, so I replaced it with a newer edition. My TTT and ROTK are still the Unwin editions so the set doesn't match!
For my 21st birthday, when I was living in France, I bought myself the large one-volume Alan Lee illustrated hardback edition in French. It was a totally frivolous buy as I've only read it once or twice, but it's a lovely edition.
I also have it on Kindle, to save destroying any more copies while travelling and so I always have LOTR handy in case I feel the need to re-read again!
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Khim
Bree
Dec 6 2016, 4:51pm
Post #6 of 17
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More than you bargained for...
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In 1977 a middle-school classmate, a pretty and very bright young lady, suggested I read The Hobbit, and so it began. The library had a very early edition of LOTR, perhaps a first American edition. I recently handled a copy of that edition and the cover looked familiar. An entry offer from The Book of the Month Club that year offered in hardback the boxed trilogy, the faux leather green Hobbit in slipcase with illustrations by JRR, the Carpenter bio, Tyler's The Tolkien Companion, AND the brand new book The Silmarillion for $12.50. I joined. So, the 1977 boxed trilogy with maps and appendices was my most oft read edition. I later gathered several paperbacks as traveling, walk about editions to preserve the hardbacks due to my frequent Middle-earth visits. I did that after I left a Cheetos finger print in my beloved first copy. Even later I collected several copies of LOTR in single deluxe volumes.
As you may recall I took a course on myth-making with Verlyn Flieger in the 1980's. A wonderful and enlightening experience. She gave me a personalized copy of the first printing of her book Splintered Light, then out-of-print. Below you may scroll through my Tolkien collection, which is up-to-date except for The Lay of Aotrou & Itroun, which I haven't entered yet, but is sitting in front of me.
Long live the Fellowship of the Room :)
https://www.librarycat.org/lib/Screamingecko/search/text/Tolkien
I am Khim akin to Mim.
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Khim
Bree
Dec 6 2016, 6:09pm
Post #8 of 17
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Some of my best friends are book killers!
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Yea, Cheetos are a book killer. I guess it's a toss up between that and a shipwreck. I'm a laughing stock in my own home because I wash my hands before reading one of my books. We joke that I should have a box of white gloves near my shelves like those handy blue latex glove dispencers you see in hospitals. Well, I did purchase a 4 book set of TH & LOTR in paperback for my wife and daughter to use to spare them my wrath. P.S. And I don't lend books, I give them as gifts :)
I am Khim akin to Mim.
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CuriousG
Half-elven
Dec 6 2016, 7:09pm
Post #9 of 17
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As a teenager I had a summer habit when school was out of 1) reading a lot and 2) making a hot dog with ketchup & mustard for lunch everyday to eat while reading. All my books from that era have mustard stains in them--ketchup can be quickly wiped off, but mustard soaks into paper forever. Now you've warned me about Cheetos. The perils of bibliophiles are too many to count.
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Ataahua
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Dec 7 2016, 12:23am
Post #10 of 17
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Is that like being a little bit pregnant? 
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Dec 7 2016, 12:24am
Post #11 of 17
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. P.S. And I don't lend books, I give them as gifts :)
Too many of mine have been returned damaged, or *months* later, for me to lend them out to anyone again.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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Eledhwen
Forum Admin
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Dec 7 2016, 9:12pm
Post #12 of 17
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but we motor-sailed her back to Whangarei. It was eventful.
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Khim
Bree
Dec 7 2016, 10:16pm
Post #13 of 17
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A bit off topic, but that very old edition of LOTR that I mentioned handling recently was at a weird little place in Lancaster, PA called The Rabbit and Dragonfly (http://www.therabbitanddragonfly.com). They realized just in time that the set was worth hundreds of dollars, or they would have parted with it for a song. Inspired by the Inklings they have a large map of Middle-earth on their wall and a cloak room painted as if you were entering Narnia. Very neat place to get a cup of coffee. I noticed they served a Hamwise Gamgee sandwich. Since there is no Hamwise mentioned in Tolkien's work, I suggested they name it after The Gaffer and call it a Hamfast Gamgee. I see based on their website that my advice was ignored, as it so often is. Sigh.
I am Khim akin to Mim.
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Arthael
Lorien
Dec 8 2016, 4:49am
Post #14 of 17
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Is my favorite. Absolutely beautiful. I do enjoy flipping through and looking at the paintings from time to time, although their large size and weight make them most appropriate for reading around the house.
My favorite paperback editions are the movie tie-ins circa 2000/2001/2002. I always loved my sister's copy of Fellowship, with Frodo on the cover, regarding Sting with wide eyes. I picked up a copy of this edition a year ago and it's my go to when I want to revisit Moria or the Old Forest. I have two copies of The Two Towers, one with Eoywn and one with Legolas in his Helm's Deep armor. My copy of Return of the King is Aragorn during the flight from Edoras. I love the cover images and typefaces, and these copies have held up to multiple readings, even though they're fairly cheap paperbacks.
"There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go."
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Na Vedui
Rohan
Dec 8 2016, 10:05pm
Post #15 of 17
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I have 3 copies of LOTR:
My first read-to-bits 1970s paperback without the Appendices - now kept in honour like the old White Tree of Gondor for the sake of nostalgia and the cover, which is two delightful landscapes by Pauline Baynes.
Hardback one-volume edition illustrated by Alan Lee - a bit unwieldy for general use.
Current all-purpose edition, holding up quite well to being read (and to scruffing about on the bedroom floor with a heap of other books between times) - 1995 paperback one-volume with Appendices and a lovely cover by John Howe showing Gandalf striding along in the rain.
Sometimes I think it would be handy to have a 3-vol paperback so that separate bits could be taken on journeys (less brick-like than a one-vol job). There are some neat, attractive paperback editions of the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales etc which have a plain black cover with one of Tolkien's Elvish heraldic emblems on, so I wonder if there is a 3-vol LOTR in the same format?
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Khim
Bree
Dec 9 2016, 5:34am
Post #16 of 17
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No Lord of the Rings to Rule Them All
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One copy of the LOTR is never enough. All my editions serve their purpose. I have several paperback editions that serve as potential sacrifices. I keep them around to read, or to provide to others without concern for their future. I haven't migrated to electronic versions yet, I still enjoy the feel of a real book. I'm like Isaac Asimov, he loved the notion of intergalactic travel, but wouldn't get on a plane. I totally get ebooks, but lug around bloated tomes.
I was lucky enough to buy a wonderful hardback trilogy in 1977. I don't know how many times I've read it. For a while it was an annual event along with Frank's 6-volume Dune saga. Except for some Cheetos residue the first hardback edition of LOTR I ever purchased is in excellent condition and is stored in its original box. It remains my favorite reading copy.
My 1974 red single volume slipcase collector's edition is handled carefully and I occasionally read passages from it. It is like a family Bible, you may direct a child's attention to it, but they cannot touch it. I guess I'm like Nigel of Spinal Tap, please don't touch it, and even stop looking at it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7-5io1muSQ).
In the 1980s my college girl friend and future ex-wife was a huge Tolkien fan and we both took a class with Dr. Flieger (we both got A's). But my Tolkien collection stayed with me. I don't know how she coped. When I started dating my second/final wife in 1991 she had never read the LOTR, so the first thing I did was buy her the newly released single volume LOTR illustrated by Alan Lee. That was her introduction to Middle-earth. Although I like to look at the pictures, my favorite Tolkien artists remain JRR and The Brothers Hildebrandt. Lee's landscapes are wonderful but the Hildebrandt Middle-earth inhabitants remain my favorite portraits.
I didn't follow the recent readings, but that is my loss. Maybe it's time to book a stay in Middle-earth. I wish I would have signed up for frequent flyer points.
I am Khim akin to Mim.
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No One in Particular
Lorien
Dec 12 2016, 1:49am
Post #17 of 17
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Different versions for different reasons...
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Between my brother and myself we've gone through probably a dozen copies of all of the different books, owing to them being bought secondhand to begin with and then read and re-read obsessively. Currently I have the most recent up-to-date version on my Kindle (for portability) but my hard copies for reading around the house (and looking up passages to reference here!) are a mixed bag from different decades. And I love it that way. 
While you live, shine
Have no grief at all
Life exists only for a short while
And time demands an end.
Seikilos Epitaph
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Wow. Maybe we should have a 'Book of Marzarbul' prize for the copy that got damaged in the most exotic way?
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