From Out-of-Print U.S. Editions of the Lord of the…
From Out-of-Print U.S. Editions of the Lord of the Rings:
BALLANTINE – SECOND ISSUE
This reissue which appeared in 1973, featured Tolkien’s own artwork. It became a widespread favorite in the U.S., particularly for those who grew up in the 1970s. The three watercolors are (Vol 1) “The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water,” identified on the copyright page as “The Hills: Hobbiton-across-the-Water; (Vol. 2) “Fangorn Forest” (“Beleg finds Gwindor in Taur-nu-Fuin”), not identified on the copyright page; and (Vol. 3) “Barad-Dûr,” so identified on the copyright page. The back covers featured promotional blurbs and a portrait photo of Tolkien.
This set was marketed as a 4-book boxed set, packaged with The Hobbit which was also reissued at this time to match the LOTR set, and featured Tolkien’s painting “Bilbo Comes to the Huts of the Raftelves,” on the cover. There were two styles of boxes, both of which were adorned with Tolkien’s Heraldic Devices of the First Age (Pictures No. 47) on either a gold foil or red background. The gold foil box was another feature that made this set memorable. This and the first Ballantine edition are both highly sought after among collectors.
Sometimes I remember something that the Internet reveals to be a complete fabrication of my big, squishy brain. That happened to me yesterday, when I went looking for information about the New Year’s Eve concert Devo did at the Long Beach Arena, which I remember fondly as my first real rock concert. I discovered that I did not attend that concert on December 31, 1978 (the New Year’s Eve of my junior year in high school), as I had long remembered it. Instead, I attended it on December 31, 1979 (during my senior year).
With that proof of my memory’s fallibility fresh in my mind, I was a little concerned that I might have misremembered which edition of LOTR I read in junior high. Maybe the one I was remembering was actually a later edition, the covers of which I’d mentally grafted onto the earlier memory?
Thankfully, the Internet confirms that I remembered correctly. I still had those books until not too long ago. Like the Skin Horse, the covers had long since been loved off. But they were definitely Real.
Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/69746868229.
Tags: nostalgia, tolkien, the lord of the rings.
