The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition) by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)
Book Review: Leather-bound, 50th edition of Lord of the Rings
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautiful edition of Tolkien's classic fantasy. It includes two maps, has beautiful artwork, and is overall a striking book. An added bonus is a detailed history of the various editions of LOTR. Definitely worth the price!Book Review: Very good edition (not talking about the story itself)
Summary: 5 Stars
I like this edition a lot. It is almost perfect but I think that the expedition ruined a bit the edges of the book. The other thing that isn't 5 stars is the way the maps are glued. You can seriously ruin them when first opening if you aren't extremely cautious.
Everything else is perfect. There are notes at the beginning of the book explaining the evolution of LOTR and the many corrections made by JRR Tolkien to the past editions. I like the paper on which the book is written and the two-color style (black for normal text and red for elvish or other alphabets). The bound feels very good even if actually I don't think it is real leather. The book seems very robust and the golden border of the pages doesn't seem to wear off at all.
I recommend this edition for any collector, if the two minuses don't bother you
Book Review: A Long Time Coming
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first edition of Lord of the Rings to contain many features that Tolkien had hoped for from the beginning: specifically it not only has the fold-out maps that were always part of the three volume hardcover editions, but the "fire letters" on the ring are printed in red ink and the color facsimiles of the leaves from the Book of Marzabul are included in the book, both for the first time. Numerous "deluxe" editions of the book have been printed over the last 30 years or so, with a variety of bells and whistles (I own five or six in that category), but none of them have fulfilled this simple and well-documented wish of the author.
As for the quality control question: no the physical book isn't perfect; the craft of book making is not what it was 50 years ago. But though the list price may be $100, I haven't seen it for sale anywhere for much more than $50, which is about what you would probably pay for the three volume hardcover. I am delighted with it.
Book Review: Not worth the money
Summary: 2 Stars
Leather is "leather-look" paper on both box and book cover. Page edge gilding is a tacky bright gold. As others have said, because of improperly placed glue, unfolding the maps guarantees ripping the maps (you might have better results if you bend the maps so that you remove the glue from inside out). At any rate...I now have a brand new $50 book with scotch tape on the damaged parts of the maps. Paper is very slick & somewhat shine-y and there is zero info as to whether it is acid-free. I cannot recommend this edition. Book Review: False Claims..."Leather" bound!
Summary: 1 Stars
First off let me say that the quality is good for this moderately priced special edition of the famed classic Lord of the Rings. The maps included are wonderfully done in black and red ink although somewhat non-removable from the binding itself making for an complicated unfolding. The included glossy pages of old scripts are a plus as well(although I would have liked to have seen more throughout). The reason I am giving it 1 star is because of the claims of it being "leather" bound. I must presume you think that we would fall for such a clever sales tactic. Guess what, we did! I gave this as a gift and it came wrapped in shrinkwrap which I left on as to not damage the cover at all. When my friend unwrapped and opened the box/book I was saying how that it is leather bound. After inspection by my trained eye (I am a product developer for a photo album/diary company) I noticed that the cover material was NOT LEATHER! What it is is actually coated paper! Please if you buy this don't expect it to be leather because it is certainly not!