[Rarebooks] FS: Presentation Issue of Tolkien`s THE SILMARILLION

[Michael John Thompson]

Offering:


TOLKIEN, J.R.R.

THE SILMARILLION. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. 
Special Deluxe Presentation issue bound in Full 
Blue Leather with the Emblem of Lúthien Tinúviel in gilt on front panel.

London; George Allen & Unwin. [1977].

First Edition, First Printing, Deluxe issue. 
Octavo, original publisher's full pebbled blue 
leather, gilt titles on spine, large gilt emblem 
- the device of Lúthien Tinúviel - on front 
panel. 365 pp, folding map at rear. The correct 
first printing - the export issue, printed by 
Clowes, which precedes the domestic issue that 
was printed by offset lithography from this 
issue. With a special label affixed to the title 
page which states "This presentation copy of THE 
SILMARILLION by J.R.R. Tolkien is one of a 
limited edition specially bound for Methuen 
Publications, Canada." Copies of this issue were 
bound up specially for Methuen Canada - the 
Canadian distributor - and were offered in a 
special lottery available for persons who 
pre-ordered the book before publication in 
September, 1977. These special copies were only 
distributed in Canada, one copy being allotted to 
each bookshop in the country who were handling 
the sale of the book. While there is no exact 
determination of the amount of copies so bound, 
it would have been decidedly small. We have had a 
few copies of this book over the years - the 
first one, damaged with a hole in the spine, 
scouted out of a used bookshop for $10 in the 
mid-1980's; then later Vancouver Bookseller 
William Hoffer had a handful of copies which he 
had purchased directly from the Methuen rep - 
they were undistributed extra copies. We ended up 
buying them all, and selling them through our 
catalogues - but this was over 20 years ago, and 
we've not seen one since, until this one showed 
up last week. There is a tiny bit of rubbing to 
the gilt on the spine panel, notably the "L & K" 
of TOLKIEN; the top edge should be stained blue, 
it has faded, and there is a small (one-inch 
wide) dampstain on the top page edges near the 
headbands - but there is no bleeding of the stain 
through onto the textblock, and it's not any sort 
of horrible defect. Overall, a very good clean 
copy, certainly internally fine, of one of the 
rarest issues of Tolkien's life-work.

$750.00

Pictures and listing here:

www.thompsonrarebooks.com/shop/thompson/303313.html




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Michael John Thompson, Antiquarian Bookseller
Imladris
5275 Jerow Road
Hornby Island, BC
Canada V0R 1Z0
Ph:  250-335-1182
Fax: 250-335-2241

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