First Editions

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Are the maps as good in the fiftieth anniversary edition?

I've got 3 hardback editions of the 50th anniversary edition - the Harper Collins de-luxe single volume, the Houghton Mifflin 50th & the Harper Collins 3 volume edition with Tolkien's original covers. In the HC editions the maps are fold out once again, but quite small. However, they are printed so that you can see the whole map with the book open & laid flat, so you can follow the journey. This is also the case with the 25th anniversary edition of UT & the 2nd ed Sil (both of which have been printed in the last two months (& with the same matching matte dust jackets as the 3 vol LotR, so they make a very nice set. The HM 50th has a larger fold out map, but it is stuck together with tiny blobs of rubber glue, which leaves little surface tedars on the paper when the map is opened for the first time. All the 50th editions contain the pages of the Book of Mazarbul which Tolkien drew for the original edition, but were omitted for reasons of cost. All the maps are the 'revised' one, which first appeared in Unfinished Tales (showing the forest of Eryn Vorn for the first time. It seems CT has drawn a new map for the forthcoming 'Children of Hurin' to be published in April 2007.

As an aside, the edition of TH which Harper Collins brought out to match the one volume LotR 50th has the same kind of fold out map, but, as per Tolkien's original intention, the 'moon letters' are printed in reverse on the back of the map so that they only show up when held up to the light.

If anything in this post has caused offence to other Downers, can I apologise in advance...