The Lord of the Rings

Notes
The map showing A Part of The Shire appears on page 30. The 1954 version of the map of The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age is present in full on page 6 as well as appearing spread over five integral pages. The Map of Gondor, Rohan and Mordor appears on pages 774-775.

This edition only includes a brief excerpt from the Appendices - A Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen from the Annals of the Kings and Rulers.

Three impressions issued:

1st Impression 1971 [1971 Edition]
2nd Impression 1973 [1973 Edition]
3rd Impression 1974 [1974 Reprint]

Three variants of 1st Impression issued:

1) Binding is brown textured paper over boards. Final two pages are blank.

2) Binding is brown textured paper over boards. Listing of A&U addresses and advertisements for other Tolkien books appear on final two pages.

3) Binding is red textured paper over boards. Listing of A&U addresses and advertisements for other Tolkien books appear on final two pages.

There are also minor differences in the layout of the text on the verso of the title page.

Two variants of 2nd Impression issued:

1) BCA/Book Club Associates throughout. Binding is brown textured paper over boards. Final two pages are blank.

2) An Allen & Unwin 12th Impression 1973 paperback bound in BCA/Book Club Associates binding and dustwrapper. Binding is brown textured paper over boards. Listing of A&U addresses and advertisements for other Tolkien books appear on final two pages.

It is unclear which variants have priority of manufacture or issue.

The 1st and 2nd Impressions have ‘BOOK CLUB ASSOCIATES’ in text on the spine of the dustwrapper, while the BCA logo appears on the 3rd Impression. The BCA logo appears on the spine of the binding on all three impressions.

There appears to have been a problem with the trimming of the dustwrapper – some copies of the 1st and 3rd Impressions seen have a 3-4 mm wide black border at the top of the upper and lower covers.

The red lettering on the dustwrapper is prone to fading to reveal the underlying yellow background.