Allen & Unwin, 1954, 1954, 1955 The Lord of the Rings
first printing set, each title is 1st/1st. The wear/ discolouration is uniform, though lightly
more wear to FotR jacket and book. Books
clean, tight bindings, slight scuffing to cloth edges in places, but no staining.
Spine titles faded, maps clean and unread. RotK is slip text 4
Unrestored jackets have darkening to edges and especially spine.
Flaps are original grey colour. Spine titles and colours faded, paper worn, slight
splits and tattering to spine corners/ends, but overall complete. As common,
FotR jacket has more wear than the others. (This book is most often re-read?).
We’ve sold many first editions sets, two in the last five
months. This set is above average and as good as they come without spending
twice the price. Importantly, there’s been no alterations/restorations to the
jackets whatsoever. Buy it before it’s gone!
Important note. You couldn't buy these in the 50's as a "set" as each title was release separately. The earliest "set" you could have purchased in a book store off the shelf would have been a 3,2,1 impression set, however by distribution odds, 4,2,1 impressions is possible, 5,2,1 the most likely. They were not as popular as they are today and few people then thought to buy each book as it was released, a very few however might have, but these don;t come up very often. Today serious collector fans want the first printing of each title and with uniform age and wear so they look good as a "set". These first sets are becoming increasingly scarce, especially those without restoration and alterations to the jackets which we feel reduces the value severely, if not completely. Better original books and jackets, warts and all, for the best investment return.
Postage and packaging is not free! Postage costs
have risen significantly in a very short time, particularly on slightly heavier
items like books or long items like tubes. They seem to be targeting on-line
sellers in fee increases. The cost of strong, rigid packaging has also risen and needs to be
stronger than before as the PO sorting office automatic sorting equipment seems to damage more
items. All our items are rare and our
customers would rather them arrive safely, than have free
postage. Since EBay rules won’t let us set the real postage and we can only use their fixed rates, some customer may pay
slightly more for very light items, but we lose money on heavier or larger
ones. Thanks for your understanding.