Links to Articles
Christopher Tolkien Bibliography
Printing and Binding The Hobbit
Tolkien's Languages and Alphabets
Publishing The Lord of the Rings
V The First Impression of RotK
XV LotR - A Bibliography of Slipcases
The History of Middle-earth series
V The Guild Publishing Editions
Hardback copies
The price for each volume doubled over the course of the publication of The History of Middle- earth, from £12.50 in 1983 to £25.00 in 1996. Stocks of hardback copies were exhausted by 1997/98. The prices changed in the following years:
- 1983 - £12.50
- 1985 - £14.95
- 1987 - £16.95
- 1988 - £17.95 - except for The Lays of Beleriand, which was priced at £18.95
- 1992 (early) - £20.00
- 1992 (late) - £25.00
Some HarperCollins copies, that appear to be first Impressions of the 1991 edition, are priced at £25.00 rather than at £20.00. This suggests that that were actually printed after the price rise in late 1992.
Paperback copies
The price for each volume more than tripled over the course of the publication of the series, from £2.95 in 1983 to £9.99 by 1993, but prices have remained stable ever since. The prices changed in the following years:
- 1985 - £2.95
- 1986 - £3.50
- 1987 - £3.95
- 1988 - £4.95
- 1989 - £4.99, then £5.50
- 1991 - £5.99
- 1992 - £6.99, then £7.99
- 1993 - £9.99
Due to the rapid escalation of prices in the early 90s there are a significant number of copies to be found with new prices and barcodes added on labels - one variant is shown here. These were probably applied fairly soon after the price rise in late 1993.
