THE LORD OF THE RINGS: De Luxe Edition
George Allen & Unwin, 1978. Hardcover. Sixth impression of the First Deluxe Edition. 1200pp + 2 maps. 8vo, printed on India Paper with blue speckled edges, black and white marbled endpapers, sewn binding in pulisher's black buckram, gilt stamped spine, gilt, silver and green stamped illustration by to the front cover: A heraldic device with Numenorean throne encompasing wing and laurel motifs surronding 'Elendil' written in Tengwar beneath a mythical tree with seven flowers and seven stars. [Hammond A5h] Very Near Fine -- faint smudge to the front cover beneath the illustration, binding showing the inevitable flexing where the map is bound in after The Two Towers--an 'inherent vice' assumably present in every copy--else FINE, a clean, fresh copy with crisp and bright pages and tight, square binding. Slipcase bumped at lefthand tail corner; original tissue guard intact. First released in 1969 as 'India Paper Edition' with a slipcase in the earliest printings. 'The binding decoration is a simplified version of a design made by Tolkien for the binding of *The Return of the King* but never used. An erupting mountain and the 'long arm of Sauron' were to be stamped in the upper background but could not be accomodated to the process. The silver inscription between the wings and the throne was originally written too delicately for the purpose.' (Hammond, p. 144). From a newly added paragraph to the foreword: 'The heraldic device on the binding of this edition represents the ancient throne of Elendil; it bears his monogram L. ND. L. ... The green jewel at the bottom represents the coming of the new King, Elessar.' There are multiple descriptions of this heraldic device in the text, for instance: 'And then wonder took him [Eomer], and a great joy; and he case his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold. Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor....' (The Return of the King, 881). NEAR FINE. Item #515109
Price: $850.00