Re: Need all your help!

Quoth "Andrew Quinn" <See Post For Email> in article
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> Hello, everyone. I tend to "lurk" in RABT and AFT quite a bit and
> this is my first new thread :-D

Welcome! :)

> I am looking for a new set to add to my birthday wish list so I can
> transport the books without having to worry so much about the age
> and fragility. What reasonably inexpensive (30$ maximum!) edition of
> the book is now in stores? This would preferably include The Hobbit
> as well as the Trilogy.
> Accuracy is very important, and preferably the set would not be
> movie-commercialized.

The best suggestion I can give you (most helpful if you live in the
USA) is to check out Stug's list of current US editions, at:

http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/editions.html

That's got detailed information on pretty much every current edition
of LotR, _The Hobbit_, and I think the rest of Tolkien's Middle-earth
books.  It includes comments on textual accuracy (see the table at the
bottom of the LotR page), maps, binding, and much more.

Having said that, your options may be limited if you stick to that $30
figure.  In that case, I might actually suggest one of the
single-volume paperback editions mentioned on that page.  The downside
is that most of them have movie tie-in covers these days, but the text
is as accurate as it comes and it's much cheaper and easier to carry
than most other editions.  (It's available for $12 from Amazon.com.)
(You would have to buy _The Hobbit_ separately, of course... but you
might want to spend some extra money to buy the new edition of _The
Annotated Hobbit_ anyway. :) )

> (I've seen a set with Viggo Mortensen pictures all over the box and
> would rather not have something like this.)

The new single-volume edition's cover art is an extreme close-up of
Sauron's finger through the Ring.  It's still a movie tie-in, but it's
pretty mild as such things go (you can't see specific actors, for
example, and the movies got the Ring's appearance pretty much dead-on
as far as my imagination is concerned.).

> Thanks everybody! Love reading your interesting discussions and hope
> to join in them more regularly!

We'll look forward to having you around.  Best wishes finding an
edition that's right for you!
                                                Steuard Jensen