LORD OF THE RINGS ILLUSTRATED ED: A Special Edition of the Fantasy Classic Featuring Sprayed Edges: 1

Bought this book as a birthday gift for a die hard LOTR fan, he loved it

This single volume edition is an incredible way to experience the complete epic in one beautifully presented book. The storytelling is rich, immersive, and timeless, pulling the reader into a world filled with depth, emotion, and unforgettable characters. The illustrations add a subtle but meaningful layer to the reading experience and enhance the atmosphere of the story. Despite its size, the book feels well bound and sturdy, making it suitable for long reading sessions. The print quality is excellent and easy on the eyes. Overall, this edition is perfect for collectors and readers who want the full journey in one premium volume.

The design of the book is incredibly beautiful. Its worth getting the hardcover as this is a big book. The box that it came in is beautiful as well. I have left it sealed for now. One issue is that I have reviewed two copies of the same map. I did not get the full map of middle earth and instead got two maps of Rohan, Gondor and Mordor

[Update on 25/06/15]- I've finished reading the book, and it's a wonderful read, truly a masterpiece! Here are some further details on this book/edition :- in a way I'm answering some of the queries I had myself after viewing this book here, prior to purchasing it. The product description was quite accurate- I received the same book shown here. Trivialities aside- This front and back covers fold out as the two maps drawn by Tolkien. It also has the single page 'Map of the Shire' inside, and the few other inner illustrations- such as the engraving upon the doors of the Mines of Moria, the lettering on the Ring in the Elven script etc; in addition to several appendices, including Runes and writing systems, background information, and family trees, all originally part of the book. I really do recommend this edition. On the other hand, besides that the quality of the type leaves a little something here and there to be desired, as all three parts of this epic novel are in a single book, the book is really very thick!..too thick for holding comfortably while reading. This is one huge book! (Because of this, I'd say a three-book boxed set of The Rings would be easier on the arms and make the reading more comfortable.) Also, because of the thickness, the pages may come apart after some reasonable wear. The magnificent spine looks great on my bookshelf, though! Great edition as a general reading copy or otherwise.

Good product, solid triology in a proper good to read portable font.

So this is a review on the edition and not on the text itself, I mean what is there to say that hasn't already been said by everyone else?, Love it or hate it you need to give Mr. Tolkien props for influencing the genre of fantasy so significantly with his legendarium of Middle-Earth, so let's cut to the chase shall we? The cover first of all, is really nice and slick and looks even more eye-catching without the dust jacket which isn't too shabby itself! It has premium illustrations and work by Mr. Tolkien which made me lean on it rather than the Alan Lee 60th anniversary edition, I've also owned a paperback, non-illustrated edition which has gotten quite weary over just a few months which is what drove me to find a hardcover edition which could actually charm my shelves which this edition does with ease, the ring-verse on the side might be a bit weird for some but trust me you get used to it, the packaging was also flattering to me and I've no intention of getting rid of it, lastly my favourite part of this purchase were the maps which I've hung on my wall, they really add some life of Middle-Earth in my humble abode, I hope some of you fellow Tolkienites find my review aiding in a way or another.

Worth every penny.

I have read a dozen or so paperbacks at this point and none of them quite well made. The pages open happily and the typesetting is quite good, kudos to who ever had the idea of using monotype plantin as the font (some people have issues regarding font size, but I find book very comfortable to read. I find bigger font sizes a bit juvenile). Above all the paper has quite good texture making the book inviting to read. Caveat : the 3 in 1 combined edition with red cover (one I have), is quite bulky, not heavy - bulky. So if you like reading your books sleeping or some way you require to hold it up, I'd suggest to go with the edition where the books are split. As for the literary stuff and the plot etc, I cannot comment; all I would like to say is I love reading it. I find excuse to stop whatever I'm doing and start reading this book, yes it is that good. There are quite a few difficult words for which you'd like to have a dictionary by your side. I find the Tolkien's picturization quite vivid and detailed. All in all I'd like to say the hype surrounding this book is true, so very true. I'm completely sold on Tolkien's middle earth. I'll re-read this book for sure and definitely looking forward to reading other works concerning the middle earth

This box set is spectacular and will greatly appeal to the fans of the series like it did to me. This edition is very beautiful and comes with maps of middle earth and illustrations. Though it is on the pricier side, I don’t have any regrets about purchasing this!

Two points to clarify about the most popular single-volume LOTR editions: 1) The 1991 single-volume Alan Lee-illustrated edition is the "centenary" edition, commemorating Tolkien's 100th birthday (cf. "centenarian") . The "centennial" edition won't be published until 2054, which will be the 100th anniversary of the original publication of Lord of the Rings. This is a very well designed and well printed/bound edition, built to last and beatufil. Its only fault is the absence of fold-out maps (it has the black and white maps printed in sections, often seen in paperback editions). 2) The reason for the broken type in the 1974 red leatherette "Collector's Edition" (and the occurrences of this number on the order of 1 or 2 characters on every 50th page or so) is more likely that the source text from which the negatives/plates were made and this edition printed was itself flawed and originally was some form of letterpress metal type, probably Monotype [a more 'modern' version of the old LinoType system], though depending on the date of that setting [up to mid-'60s, or even later] it may have been hand-composed. All metal type gets re-used, and becomes worn and some of it cracked/chipped over time. There were many books reprinted in this way through the early '80s (and a few publishers, such as Lindsay Books, of long out-of-print, mostly public-domain or 'gray rights' titles, still do this). The problem is unlikely to have been caused by faults in photo-typesetting strips or process-camera negs in 1973 or so (when this LOTR Collector's Edition was first printed) since that process was a fully mature, climax technology by then, and quality control was simply outstanding (this was due to that extinct beast, the unionized master-printer, especially at Houghton Mifflin, a publisher with a very large academic textbook list, and an industry reputation for quality production; just look at any ten trade hardbacks circa 1973 and earlier, and compare any element of quality to any ten current titles and it's clear the the technology and practice of printing and book binding peaked long ago, and nothing of newer technology, especially computer technology has served the interest of producing better made books, quite the opposite. 2007 tech only makes it faster and cheaper, nothing else. Remember also that it was the Allen & Unwin type-compositors who introduced virtually all the spelling and diction errors in both the 1st and 2nd editions, some of which have only finally been fixed in the 2004-05 50th Anniversary edition; and these were errors mostly such as 'dwarves' being "corrected" to 'dwarfs', 'elven' to 'elfin', and many others, primarily linguistic, along those lines; these would have been proper corrections with any author other than Tolkien, of course.) As for the notion that photo-reproduction is at all like printing a Word document on a laser printer, then scanning it back into a computer as a JPEG or GIF image file, and finally printing it again, that is a facile and plainly inaccurate comparison. In short, unless one starts with a bitmap or similar low quality computer 'font', prints on low-brightness (<70) recycled paper via a cheap ink-jet printer, scans using a 75-by-75 dpi setting via low-end scanning hardware and software, and repeats printing as above, the result will certainly be nothing so poor as Jeff Sun describes in his review. Photo-reproduction via PC and peripherals or via process-camera, strips, and offset printing, can easily and does commonly achieve excellent results, provided the equipment is of first quality and the operator is skilled. If anyone is obsessed enough to try this (as I clearly am), one fairly reliable way to tell whether a book is printed (at some stage) from some form of metal type is to use at least a 20x loupe and examine the vertical straight edges (particularly of upper N's, T's, L's, and E's) for irregularity. Metal type degrades in miniscule degrees after the first few hundred impressions, and will show this by cracking/splitting/chipping/warbling/bending and otherwise appearing NOT straight, sharp, and crisp (especially machine-set monotype/linotype which was all lead/tin, since it was melted down repeatedly; hand-set type has antimony and sometimes manganese in it, which makes it much harder to start and also casts more sharply; parts of letters break off but usually don't deform). It's a challenge to tell these apart, since photo-reproduction of letterpress can be hard to distinguish from original letterpress printing, if the latter is done by a highly skilled compositor and press operator. Some letterpress books show the impression of the type on the page, like a light embossing, from the force of the type striking the stock. Really good printing avoids this. So, if you have a book without this feature that does show feathering, breaks, waviness, etc. it may be either letterpress or photo-repro of LP, but if these traits are present it is almost certain metal type was used at some point in the life of the typesetting. Two caveats to even to this: feathering alone does not definitely mean deformed metal type. Feathering,, or little veins and stream-like projects away from the character is often caused by excessive inking and watery ink, and also by cheap papers that are unsized (meaning a starch like substance is added during the paper's manufacture to prevent feathering and bleedthrough; newsprint is unsized and you can see how feathering works buy lightly touching a fountain pen to a piece of it for a minute or so). The other caveat is that some computer fonts, especially some high end ones for MAC typesetting systems, have been photographically captured/reproduced from books printed mostly before 1800, and their designers often deliberately retain some of the source type's imperfections (which are due mostly to the more primitive metallurgy of that era) to achieve a particular design effect. You might be surprised how much theory and psychology underlies type-design and typography; there is a lot. Need a dissertation topic? This has become, I see now, a rant, and a really long one. First as a reader, then as a writer, then as apprentice in a letterpress print shop and bindery, I've always held the book as art-object or craft-work in very nearly as high esteem as the words contained within. I do think these issues are worth some ink, and I expect (or hope) that those interested in fine editions such as this so-called "Collector's " (Ugh! I so hate that term, it's like "deluxe" or "premier" and is mildly patronizing to the reader/buyer) edition of LOTR might also find at least some of the above ramble of interest and use. I do regard this red leatherette slipcased edition (ISBN 0-39-519395-8) as my favorite. It was this edition in which I first read LOTR, and though the Centenary hardcover and the HC 50th Anniversary editions (slipcased US and UK, different designs, both excellent) are on the whole and in most particulars better printed and bound, this edition is a nostalgia item for me. I also very much like the red binding, evocative as it is of the "Red Book of Westmarch," the foil-stamping on the spine, of the White Tree of Gondor, (which must be by either Pauline Baynes or by Tolkien himself) is a delight, and the two color printing, in spite of the ocassional bad character and slightly inconsistent inking, makes me feel like I'm reading an incunabulum. All of these speak across from the old world, though perhaps very long after the Third Age had concluded. I recommend it, highly and without reservation, even to a casual collector, especially now since it has recently gone out of print(ca. 2003-2005, around the time the slipcased, black bonded-leather, US 50th Anniversary edition [ISBN 0-618-51765-0] was published), and is very unlikely to be reissued. It (the Red) listed for $75, and Amazon last sold new copies for $47.50 last January. Now however, fine, used copies are nearing the original list price for the new, and new copies are nearing $100, and very hard to find. Buy one now, as soon as you find one available fine or better.

Wunderschöne Ausgabe

The edition, illustrations and maps included are fantastic, my son, who is a Tolkien fan, loved it and is devouring it again!!! Highly recommended.

Perfeita obra. Um item de qualidade superior, que abrilhanta qualquer coleção. Para os fans de Tolkien, contém inúmeras ilustrações exclusivas, rascunhos do autor, relatos do filho. Simplesmente perfeito. A gramatura das páginas é menor do que o padrão, mas isso é óbvio, já que é um único livro contendo os três volumes de LOTR (aprox 1000 pág). Único problema que eu tive com o livro é decidir entre tirar ou não da embalagem.