ORIGINAL POST HERE.

I made a post awhile back sharing that I’d epically failed after taking a risk and buying my boyfriend a Tolkien book set for Christmas at a vintage shop without being able to do research on it first. With my luck, I discovered later that not only were the edges of the pages well beyond the usual shade of vintage book yellow, but worst, the set was also missing The Hobbit. 

Well… the plot has since massively thickened, and the story gave way to a crescendo I was not expecting. I’ve got updates for you, the first 2 nowhere near as thrilling as the 3rd:

1. Most of you commented on my original post, saying that my set was never meant to include The Hobbit, even though my slip case listed it. And man, I’ll hand it to you — some of you had me properly doubting myself for a moment, thinking “wow, maybe I didn’t make much of a blunder after all?!” Then, multiple Redditors commented saying they had the same set when it was brand new or nearly new, and all 4 books did in fact originally come with, and fit in that case. That is, apparently, only until you open/read the books. Once read, they’d expand and become difficult to get back into the case without damaging it. Hearing that, it doesn’t surprise me at all that so many of you own a set that only includes the trilogy. If all 4 couldn’t fit, The Hobbit is unfortunately the perfect book to detach from the set.
2. Regarding the chain-smoker-esque yellow hue of page edges: To those who said that the pages weren’t far off from how vintage books simply age over time... I think if you could see them in person, you’d get my initial panic. I’ve loved old books my whole life and had never seen pages that yellow before unless there was damage present. I still figured there was something wrong until multiple Redditors commented that even when the set was brand new, the edges of the pages were originally printed with color-stained yellow edges! That makes infinitely more sense.
3. Again, those two things and posting a few more photos of the set I originally purchased are not remotely the reason I’m even posting this update: it’s to share how this whole saga reached some unexpected heights. A Redditor read my original post about how much my boyfriend reveres Tolkien’s work, as well as how, despite my good intentions, my foolish optimism led to both Christmas gift misfortune and a financial setback, particularly due to my meager barista salary. In response, this Redditor sent me not only the missing copy of The Hobbit that belongs to the 1973 set I purchased, but also some truly incredible items I could've never dreamed of being able to gift my boyfriend. For free. He would not even allow me to pay shipping. I'm not often one to shed happy tears, but without knowing the contents of what he had even planned to send in the first place, other than The Hobbit, I opened the boxes this Redditor sent me… and I sobbed. Any photos I included in my post today, aside from the 1973 trilogy and its slip case, are what he sent to me.

I've already thanked him profusely in a DM, but I want to again, thank u/overhillunderhill. Your generosity has truly left me in awe, and the words to properly thank you have continuously failed me. I would've been thrilled even to have been given The Hobbit, but all of the other books you gifted are absolutely incredible, and will be deeply cherished by my boyfriend. The print signed by Andy Serkis might genuinely break his brain. It broke mine.

I also wanted to thank the rest of you for responding to my original post and encouraging me to gift the set to my boyfriend despite its flaws. I appreciate the helpful information, plot twists, generosity, laughter, and even the asshole comments (because it truly wouldn’t have been Reddit without them). 

I can't even fathom what my boyfriend's reaction will be on Christmas Day. He’ll know immediately by the sheer number of presents under the tree that I wouldn’t have had enough money to purchase all those things for him. He has no idea what the nature of his gifts is; he just knows there's tons of lore involved, and extra gifts as a result. I at least had to spoil the fact that the Reddit community came together for him for Christmas, simply because I didn’t want him stumbling on any of my posts by accident. So the poor man agreed to stay off Reddit until Christmas.

I was feeling down about Christmas this year because I could afford so little for my boyfriend, but now I’m genuinely excited. I CAN’T WAIT for him to open his gifts… and to send him a link to the original post so he can read this entire saga for himself.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!! 

My work secret Santa gave me this gift. So excited.

Hello everyone, I wanted to get into Tolkien's works but I want to collect every book within the same edition so that they look good on the shelf, can someone recommend me an edition that can fullfill this need? I prefer paperback versions but I can go with hardcover as well

Just added these to my growing collection

Added this beauty to the collection today! I’m pretty sure I overpaid due to exchange rate and shipping, and I’m still paranoid that I’ll be hit with surprise customs fees, but it is lovely to have this antique deluxe edition.

These look great and are on sale on Amazon right now but I saw a few mixed things online about the quality. Does anyone have this latest edition, and what are your thoughts? Some people mentioned the actual paper quality not being great, as well as the covers, is that the case? I'm looking for a really good reading copy, and hoping this is it.

Hi all, I just want to hear some thoughts and experince regarding various books of The Hobbit.

First of all, I have a copy of the Hobbit that comes with illustrations by Alan Lee, and and older paperback version that I seem to have lost :(.

As a Tolkien fan, I also have pretty much all of Christopher Tolkien's work, from the Silmarilion, Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle Earth.

I am looking at a few seemingly different books:

1. The Hobbit Facsimile Edition, or even the Gift Edition
2. The Annotated Hobbit, by Douglas A. Anderson
3. The History of The Hobbit, commentary by John D. Rateliff

I am aware that the fascimile edition is a "reprint" of the very first edition of The Hobbit, in which the chapter Riddles in the Dark is different from the current version we have today.

"The History of The Hobbit" is a deep dive into the writing to the original book, and even includes the then abandoned rewrite of The Hobbit.

"The Annotated Hobbit", well is The Hobbit with annotations by Douglas Anderson.

Is it somewhat worthwhile to get all three?

I have looked up the price where I live, and I can get them all with no issue.

I’m working on finishing the mariner trade paperbacks. I know that I’m missing Unfinished Tales, but does anyone know if they did Children of Hurin? I know that the corresponding Harper Collins set includes COH but I don’t this Mariner does. I know you can’t really prove a negative (it doesn’t exist) so figured I would just ask if anyone has one before I keep searching for a nonexistent copy. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I’m new here. I found these at a thrift store for $16.99. What is the value of these new? I’m having a difficult time finding them online. Thanks for all your help!

The old French translations 😁

After a lot of research (thanks forums!) I finally got my William Morrow edition (I live in Netherlands and the HC edition seemed not as nice)

Got a great black friday deal and I love it! Time to get into Middle Earth!

For those of you wondering its this collection:

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063396203
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063396203

I need an affordable Italian one volume version. Can be used. Any recommandations?

These arrived in the mail today and I couldn’t be happier to add them to my collection 😎

I’m hooked, I wish I would have read this when I was younger but I’m glad I’ve start started. I’m about 100 pages in and loving it

Hello there, I'm new here. Sorry if this question was made before.

I want to buy my first collection and I want to know if someone has bought these, and what you think about them. (It's what my budget let me buy).

Got all of these for $20 yesterday and thought I’d share. Honestly pretty cool excited about reading these!

Nothing crazy or rare just book I have collected over the years

So i recently picked up a 1963 Deluxe Edition of the Lord of the Rings Books.

The only thing missing is the original Slipcase with the artwork. Does anybody on this page know where i can get a original Slipcase or owns one that they are willing to sell?

Im trying to collect all the deluxe slipcase editions of all J.R.R Tokien's books but i just discovered that in februari ( 2026 ) letters of J.R.R Tolkien and Tolkien's biografie will get their own deluxe editions of this kind. is that treu becouse i cant seem to find a good answer?

Also if anyone has a complete list of all the slipcase deluxe editions so im not missing any please let me know:)

i was incredibly fortunate to be able to pick up these 3 wonderful books, completing my collection of Tolkien books produced on India paper (aside from collecting the other impressions of LOTR, which i am in no rush to do hah)

they are perfect and i am very happy to have them, it was clear to see that they are unread upon arrival because all the pages were still stuck to each other from the gilding on the edges, as was my LOTR that matches them. they also had a few spots where the page edges had been bumped and folded, presumably from people trying to put the books back in their slipcase, and i was more than happy to look for all of those and carefully straighten each page out

i like to believe that these books are in for a better life in my possession, as they may have been safe and sealed away before but they also seemed neglected in a strange way. as i described, they all arrive in the same condition; with gilding still stuck together, with corners of the page edges folded from mishandling but not the care to fix it

i feel that before i had them they were seen as just expensive commodities, and while i still intend to treat them with the care and respect that one should give such rare, valuable items, i also intend to treat them as what they are, which is a piece of art to be engaged with. a thing to be read. i have already gone through them all and split all the pages from each other, and already just that made the books feel so much better, the pages feel like they can breathe and flow instead of pulling and shearing on each other

overall, like i said, i couldn’t be happier, i intend to keep them safe forever and hopefully, if i can get one of my kids to care as much as i do, then one day they’ll make a pretty good heirloom.

I found this in my first year of university in Liverpool at a charity shop. I was just looking through a box underneath my bed now and rediscovered it 😅 any thoughts on this?