In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

Sumptuous slipcased edition of Tolkien's classic epic tale of adventure, fully illustrated in colour for the first time by the author himself. This deluxe volume is quarterbound in leather and includes many special features unique to this edition. Tolkien writes with a certain depth that I haven't seen in many other authors. Very few people can capture the essence of a story like he could. Tolkien had a gift, and he utilized it well. He wrote from his heart, and when authors write from their true feelings, it comes out more real than someone who, say, writes simply for money. The book as a whole is simply an almost flawless example of how books should be written. Not only does Lord of the Rings have just a good story and characters, Tolkien created numerous biblical parallels. This makes a work of fiction really come alive and feel much more relevant. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. When I was 15 years old in high school, I had to read "The Hobbit" for an English class. After reading that book, the teacher then let us borrow "The Lord of the Rings". Before I had started "The Return of the King", I had bought my own set of books. After I had read both books, I actually liked "The Hobbit" better than "The Lord of the Rings" at first - because the "The Hobbit" was brighter: a fun, grand adventure with more humor, whereas "The Lord of the Rings" was darker: a serious, grim life and death struggle for world survival. But by the time I was about 16, the historical significance of "The Lord of the Rings" began to appeal more to me. This is especially true if you read Appendices A and B of "The Lord of the Rings", and also read the "The Silmarillion". You begin to understand the rich history of Tolkien's Middle-Earth/ Beleriand creation. How the "The Silmarillion" brings out the significant events of the First and Second Ages, while the events in "The Lord of the Rings" are the culmination of the Third Age...each Age lasting thousands of years and ending with an immensely significant event.

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.)

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion. The Lord of the Rings" is usually found in a single volume, or in three volumes: 1) "The Fellowship of the Ring", 2) "The Two Towers", and 3) "The Return of the King". My recommended reading age is 13+ years old, and I recommend reading "The Hobbit" first. 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? Lord of the Rings is the type of book that can be read numerous times. Whoever has not read Lord of the Rings should begin right now. It's worth the time put into it. I see no way for this to disappoint, if you are someone who knows a good story when you see one. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

Customer reviews

The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest book series ever created, and the non-deluxe hardcover Lord of the Rings Illustrated edition is coming out October 19, 2021. The edition includes original JRR Tolkien illustrations for the first time in any edition of the series since 1954. Moving onto Tolkien's writing style. It is absolutely flawless. His descriptions are masterful, and he doesn't fall into any of the usual faults that many authors fall into. Tolkien doesn't stop the action to use descriptions; he uses the action to channel the descriptions. His writing flows extremely well, and he moves the story steadily along while keeping consistent pacing, which is a very important aspect of any story. I really like how Tolkien allows the story to enhance his writing style. The grand landscapes, the epic battles. He captures the very essence of Middle-earth. For the first time ever, a very special edition of the classic masterpiece, illustrated throughout in colour by the author himself and with the complete text printed in two colours. It comes in a slipcase and contains the Tolkien illustrations found in the regular Illustrated Edition, as well as "two poster-size, fold-out maps revealing all the detail of Middle-earth."

The interesting fact is that despite the complexity of the story, Tolkien presents it in such a way that all of the different aspects of the story flow together fluidly. So much so that it seems like the story is relatively simple. And that only continues to prove that Tolkien really knows how to write a good story. It's a good time to be a Lord of the Rings fan. The upcoming Gollum game"puts the spotlight on an unlikely hero," and looks to be another solid entry into the pantheon of Lord of the Rings games. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Over 100 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors' editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. The 1954 edition only features two illustrations from Tolkien, but this latest Lord of the Rings illustrated version has "30 other sketches, illustrations, and maps." J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but while he studied classic works of the past, he was creating a set of his own.

Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Over 150 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors’ editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. The art by Tolkien has appeared in print before, most notably the hardcover "Pictures by JRR Tolkien" first published in 1979, the book itself a collection of illustrations printed in "a series of calendars" printed earlier in the 1970s. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Over 100 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors’ editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. Sumptuous slipcased edition of Tolkien’s classic epic tale of adventure, fully illustrated in colour for the first time by the author himself. Limited to a worldwide first printing of just 6,000 copies* This deluxe volume is quarterbound in leather and includes many special features unique to this edition.

This new edition includes the fiftieth-anniversary fully corrected text setting and, for the first time, an extensive new index. That brings me to how Tolkien handles dialogue. There are many passages where Tolkien uses long passages in dialogue to convey information while using only simple dialogue tags to portray the action. Some may say that the long passages are boring and detract from the story, but I say it only goes to enhance the story and create even better character development. Each character has his or her own voice, and each talk differently. This added with the action taking place in the short sentences between dialogue allows the scene to flow easily with the action never stopping while we still get to know whatever information needs to be conveyed. Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest literary contributions to mankind. I have yet to see a book, or set of books, written as well with the amount of depth that Tolkien has put into this work. I feel that Tolkien saw a little bit of himself in many of the good races of his world. The hobbits are like Tolkien because they love food, company, and talking about family. The ents are like Tolkien because of their unbounded love of trees. Gandalf the wizard is like Tolkien because of his exceptional intelligence and purpose of guiding others along the right path. Some men are like Tolkien because of their inner strength and gallantry, while other men show weakness by succumbing to evil...very realistic. But I believe he saw the beauty and enchantment of the elves in his wife, and why he loved both most dearly: that's why on their gravestone Luthien appears after his wife's name, and Beren appears after his name. The dwarves don't seem to resemble Tolkien, but they are present in much folklore, which is linked to his personal love of medieval languages.