[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I'm reassured to hear that, Hyarion. I agree with davem that there are some people who are so dedicated to Tolkien that they seem to deserve to have the latest collectables. A trivia competition seems a better way of finding out who they are than blind luck. However, market forces being what they are, I can see that only the the rich or the very dedicated will be able to get hold of one of these once the initial round of sales and competitions is over.

Naturally I've not been working on my Tolkien collection long enough to count among the meritorious, but I'll be taking every chance to get hold of a signed copy anyway for obvious reasons. I doubt that CRT will be available to sign any copies I might buy in the near future.

It's tempting to think of a HarperCollins competition to give away some goodies. Judging by some of the items that crop up on collectors' sites they keep back some rare Tolkien publications, like signed first impressions of LR, but such retention would still leave them with a good few dozen copies to give away or offer for sale at a higher rate. Only time will tell what they mean to do.