Tolkien Library Store - Original Cloth Bindings - Lord of the Rings Original Bindings

The Lord of the Rings, 1st US Edition, Early Impressions with Dustjackets and Custom Slipcase

#001341 - The Lord of the Rings, 1st US Edition, Early Impressions with Dustjackets and Custom Slipcase - sold


The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1955/1955/1956 1st US Editions, 2nd imp./3rd imp./1st Impressions respectively.

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The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1955/1955/1956 1st US Editions, 2nd imp./3rd imp./1st Impressions respectively.

A beautiful set of first editions of this classic of fantasy literature.
The set is housed in a custom slipcase to show and protect this beautiful set.
The set is all original cloth with the correct original dustjackets.

The Fellowship of the Ring corresponds to the 3rd impression of the UK 1st Edition, but is the 2nd US impression, as Houghton Mifflin did not order any of the 2nd UK impressions.
The Very Good dustjacket of the Fellowship exhibits areas of loss to the corners and tips of the spine area, along with some chips to the back panel and flap fold area.
The spine is lightly faded but the front panel still shows nice bright colors.
There are a couple of small splits to the spine fold area, now reinforced with archival tape, and a larger chip at the rear bottom spine fold and one at the rear top of spine fold area.

The Two Towers Very Good Plus dustjacket exhibits all the correct issue points for this early copy, including the "stripe, gap and cufflink" points. There is only minor rubbing and loss at the spine fold area, mostly minor chips at the top of the spine, it also shows a couple of stress lines the length of the spine where it may have been folded at one point, but has beautiful bright colors, a tiny bit of fading to the spine, hardly noticeable.

The Fellowship dustjacket has the photo of Tolkien in a 'V' on the rear panel, is not priced, and has the 'w' nicked on the front flap, line 11, indicating this is the correct original dustjacket for the book.

The Return of the King dustjacket has the oversized '5' in the price with double uprights, the correct issue point for a true 1st Impression. The Very Good dustjacket on The Return of the King shows some rubbing and areas of loss at the spine tips and some splitting and loss along the flap fold with minor loss to the tips, now reinforced with archival tape to help stop any further splitting.
Numerous chips and loss to the top of the front panel, a bit of soiling to the white areas, mainly on the back panel and flaps.
The front flap show a moisture line at the top, but does not show on the book.
The books are tight, bright, and clean with a previous owners name to front free endpaper of The Two Tower the only name or writing in any of the books.

The Fellowship shows the outlines of bookplate removed from front pastedown, hidden under the dustjacket flap. The book covers are very nice with only minor loss to the gilt stamping on The Fellowship, all clean and bright.
The endpapers show no foxing or offsetting and are bright and clean. None of the dustjackets are price clipped, and all lack any foxing whatsoever.
Besides being a truly beautiful looking set, this set is very scarce and collectable.

The original maps are present in all three volumes, no extra folds or tears noted. A small bookstore sales receipt, dated 1/22/1957 is laid in the Return, showing the original purchase at $5.00 each of the Return of the King and The Two Towers, some offsetting to the title page verso from the paper being laid in there over the years.

A beautiful set of First Editions of this classic of fantasy literature, with a custom clamshell case to protect and house these 'precious' books. Any questions, please feel free to ask.

Digital photo's available, inquire if interested.

Other Tolkien books available, include both the UK and US editions, original cloth bindings, custom fine bindings, and Signed/Numbered/Limited Editions.

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