Links to Articles
Publishing The Lord of the Rings
V The First Impression of RotK
VI The First Boxed Edition
VII The Readers Union Edition
VIII The First Deluxe Edition
IX Printing and Binding LotR
XIV LotR: A Bibliography
XV LotR: A Bibliography of Slipcases
The History of Middle-earth series
I A Guide to the Contents
II Prices on Dustwrappers
III Original Retail Prices
IV Print Run Sizes
V The Guild Publishing Editions
VI Shaping of Middle-earth Wrapper
VII Peoples of Middle-earth Pulped?
Other Articles
Christopher Tolkien Bibliography
I Think I've Got A Hobbit
Missing Images
Nasty Tricksy Hobbits
Printing and Binding The Hobbit
Songs for the Philologists
The Princess Hobbit
-- Ferguson Dewar
-- Letter from J. R. R. Tolkien
-- Gandalf: Not 'Magician' but 'Wizard'
-- Visions of Gollum
-- Of Smaug and the Jabberwock
-- Magazine Gallery
Tolkien Calendars
Tolkien the Esperantist?
Tolkien's Languages and Alphabets
Unpublished Manuscript Found?
Relatively little is known about the size of print runs for most editions of books in The History of Middle-earth. The information presented below gives the print run sizes for the first impression of a variety of editions. The figures given for the first nine volumes are taken from J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography by Wayne G. Hammond ("Hammond"), while those for the final three volumes have been supplied by HarperCollins.
| Title | Edition | Year | Publisher | No. of Copies | Comments |
| The Book of Lost Tales 1 |
1st Edition | 1983 | George Allen & Unwin | 5,000 | |
| 1st PB Edition | 1985 | Unwin Paperbacks | 25,000 | ||
| BCA Edition | 1986 | Guild Publishing | 1,000? | Hammond gives year as 1983 | |
| The Book of Lost Tales 2 |
1st Edition | 1984 | George Allen & Unwin | 7,500? | |
| 1st PB Edition | 1986 | Unwin Paperbacks | 25,000 | ||
| BCA Edition | 1986 | Guild Publishing | 1,000 | Hammond gives year as 1984 | |
| The Lays of Beleriand | 1st Edition | 1985 | George Allen & Unwin | 6,000 | |
| BCA Edition | 1986 | Guild Publishing | 2,000 | ||
| 1st PB Edition | 1987 | Unwin Paperbacks | 24,000 | Plus 6,000 copies for Methuen | |
| The Shaping of Middle-earth |
1st Edition | 1986 | George Allen & Unwin | 6,000 | Three variants of the dustwrapper |
| Library Edition | 1986 | George Allen & Unwin | 150 | Bound by Cedric Chivers of Bath | |
| BCA Edition | 1986 | Guild Publishing | 4,000 | ||
| 1st PB Edition | 1988 | Unwin Paperbacks | 20,000 | ||
| The Lost Road |
1st Edition | 1987 | Unwin Hyman | 6,000 | |
| Library Edition | 1987 | Unwin Hyman | 150 | Bound by Cedric Chivers of Bath | |
| BCA Edition | 1987 | Guild Publishing | 2,500 | Hammond gives year as 1985 - a typo? | |
| 1st PB Edition | 1989 | Unwin Paperbacks | 15,000 | ||
| The Return of the Shadow |
1st Edition | 1988 | Unwin Hyman | 5,000 | |
| Library Edition | 1988 | Unwin Hyman | 120 | Bound by Cedric Chivers of Bath | |
| 1st PB Edition | 1990 | Unwin Paperbacks | 25,000 | ||
| The Treason of Isengard |
1st Edition | 1989 | Unwin Hyman | 5,000 | Plus 3,000 unpriced copies for BCA |
| 1st PB Edition | 1992 | Grafton | ? | ||
| The War of the Ring |
1st Edition | 1990 | Unwin Hyman | 4,000 | Plus 3,500 unpriced copies for BCA |
| Library Edition | 1990 | Unwin Hyman | 100 | Bound by Morley Books of Leeds | |
| 1st PB Edition | 1992 | Grafton | ? | ||
| Sauron Defeated |
1st Edition | 1992 | HarperCollins | 3,000 | Plus 2,000 unpriced copies for BCA |
| 1st PB Edition | 1993 | HarperCollins | ? | ||
| Morgoth's Ring |
1st Edition | 1993 | HarperCollins | 4,500 | Plus 1,500 unpriced copies for BCA* |
| 1st PB Edition | 1994 | HarperCollins | ? | ||
| The War of the Jewels |
1st Edition | 1994 | HarperCollins | 3,000 | Plus 1,500 unpriced copies for BCA** |
| 1st PB Edition | 1995 | HarperCollins | ? | ||
| The Peoples of Middle-earth |
1st Edition | 1996 | HarperCollins | 2,500 | Plus 1,500 unpriced copies for BCA*** |
| 1st PB Edition | 1997 | HarperCollins | ? |
* BCA subsequently called off 2,200 additional copies from the HarperCollins trade edition. HarperCollins afterwards produced a small reprint of 500 copies.
** Two additional lots of 200 copies from the trade edition were sold to BCA.
*** BCA sold their copies very quickly and then bought 500 copies from the trade edition.
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