J.R.R. Tolkien – The Return Of The King – First Edition 1955 – In the original unrestored dust wrapper
£7,500.00
The Return of the King (1955), [vi], 423, [1] pp., “First published in 1955” to verso. Retaining the map with complete rich red top stain. Binding firm and square, cloth bright. A near fine book without inscriptions. In the very good (or better) dust wrapper which is unclipped, showing some light scattered spotting and light toning – with ABSOLUTELY NO LOSS. The red on the spine is not faded – some small stains. A great example which would sit nicely in any set.
Hammond & Anderson A5a, A6a, A7a; Currey p. 508; Bleiler p. 509.
When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen & Unwin. Tolkien’s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy.
The trilogy’s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of ‘The Return of the King’ at 7,000 copies and the amount of unrestored dust-jackets now, was never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most widely read and culturally resonant works of the modern era.
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- Description
Description
The Return of the King (1955), [vi], 423, [1] pp., “First published in 1955” to verso. Retaining the map with complete rich red top stain. Binding firm and square, cloth bright. A near fine book without inscriptions. In the very good (or better) dust wrapper which is unclipped, showing some light scattered spotting and light toning – with ABSOLUTELY NO LOSS. The red on the spine is not faded – some small stains. A great example which would sit nicely in any set.
Hammond & Anderson A5a, A6a, A7a; Currey p. 508; Bleiler p. 509.
When The Lord of the Rings appeared between 1954 and 1955, it was issued quietly, in modest print runs, by the London publisher George Allen & Unwin. Tolkien’s achievement was not merely narrative but architectural. Drawing upon philology, medieval literature, mythology, and his own linguistic inventions, he constructed a secondary world of unprecedented depth and internal coherence. Middle-earth was not a setting but a civilisation: languages, genealogies, cosmology, and moral philosophy interwoven with epic narrative. In doing so, Tolkien effectively established the template for modern high fantasy.
The trilogy’s publication history underscores its rarity. The first impression of ‘The Return of the King’ at 7,000 copies and the amount of unrestored dust-jackets now, was never high. More than seventy years after publication, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most widely read and culturally resonant works of the modern era.
