The Fellowship of the Ring - In the original unrestored dust wrapper
$50,843 · Offered by Biblio
First edition · In dust jacket
London: George Allen and Unwin, 1954. The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), [vi], 423, [1] pp., First published in 1954 to verso. Retaining the map with a little spotting to the red top stain. Binding firm and square, cloth bright with light rubbing and light fading to the spine end. A very good book without inscriptions. In the very good (or better) dust wrapper which is unclipped, showing some light scattered spotting and light toning - with ABSOLUTELY NO LOSS. The red on the spine a little faded. A great example which would sit nicely in any set. Hammond Anderson A5a, A6a, A7a; Currey p. 508; Bleiler p. 509. When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen Unwin. Tolkien s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy. The trilogy s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring numbered only 3,000 copies and the amount of unrestored dust-jackets now, was never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one o
- Publisher: George Allen and Unwin
- Year: 1954
- Edition: First Edition
- Printing: first
- Binding: hardcover
Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.