The Lord of the Rings, 1956/57 Set, Impr. 5,5,3 First Set VG+- NF
Language: English
Published by Allen and Unwin, London, 1956
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Festival Art and Books, Machynlleth, Gwynedd, United KingdomFestival Art and Books
AbeBooks seller since May 20, 2015
Condition: Used - Near fine
US$ 12,363.35
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Allen and Unwin 1956, 57, 57 a set sold in early 1957. Jackets have spotting and tears on the corners, especially RotK, but have the original light grey colour which is extremely rare to find now. Overall well above average for the age as you are mostly paying for dust jackets, but the books. Its rare to find the original grey as most have faded to beige or white. The books have been read many times, but bindings tight, spine gilt bright. FotR has a 6th impress jacket on an 5th book. Quite common for the publisher to use up jackets, back and forward. These earlier printing sets are getting harder to find in collectible, investment condition. This set is unique as discussed in like past listings and in our Tolkien collectors guide. The early printings were very expensive so initially the book titles were sold separately, not as a set. You could never buy a 1,1,1 set off the shelf in the day. Three book sets were assembled over time as most people could not afford to buy hardback books all at once. The first set of three books you could buy as a three book set was in 1957, thus a true "first edition" set as defined by the first time available to the public. Printing technology made books cheaper by the early 1960's and they were eventually all sold as sets, many in special built slipcases. Impressions available at the time in any given year would have been random distribution between all the bookstores and based on what each sold and what they had leftover. You might have gone from store to store looking to buy the first printing of each title and found it. However, contrary to the hype, they were not best sellers until the mid-1960's so not collectiable then as they are today. I've created a matrix (see photo) of year and limpressions as books tended to be released around the Xmas based on the assumption they were bought together and stayed together as evident by their uniform wear of books and jackets today. If you picked the three titles off the shelf in a given book store in 1957 the impressions could have been 5,5,3 or 7,5,3 or 4. or higher. As the original distribution records, not printing records, are long gone we can only estimate distribution and availability of impression and years. Even today, few people look at the copyright page of a new book. Impressions 7,5,4 would have been the most plentiful in terms of new impressions configuartions available in 1957, but its probable the earliest possible configuration would be 5,5,3 or 4 impressions, this set. 5,5,5 is possible, but less probable. Later that year some sets were sold in the very first slipcase limited to 300. This 5,5,3 set would have proceeded that. A greater number of impressions configurations would have been available with each passing year, however they would not have printed new impressions until the old ones sold. A set all the same printing year wasn't consistant until the early 1960's where the impressions for each year were also consistent. Thus we call ths set a true first edition "set" from being kept together all this time. They were not necessarily pieced together later. However, it is possible they could have been, but unlikey because they match colour so well. Light colour jacket paper stains and wears quickly. We like to call this particular impression set the true "First edition" as the very first time you could buy them all together off the shelf. We feel this matters to the value for some fans and they've been kept together by one beloved owner. Very rare, I get this first edition sets only every couple years, less than before. Dear American Customers, your items will arrive tariffs paid by us. I would expect delays in delivery new customs systems come on-line. Please feel free to ask any questions on any of our items.…
Seller Inventory # 002655
Bibliographic details
- Title
- The Lord of the Rings, 1956/57 Set, Impr. 5,5,3 First Set VG+- NF
- Author
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Publisher
- Allen and Unwin, London
- Publication year
- 1956
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Dust jacket
- Near Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Edition
- First Edition.
- Printing
- 5th or later Printin
- Seller catalogs
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Festival Art and Books
Machynlleth, Gwynedd, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since May 20, 2015
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 10 to 20 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | US$ 40.03 | US$ 66.72 |
Payment methods
- Bank Draft
- Bank Wire Transfer
- Cash
- Cash on Delivery
- Direct Debit
Store description
An 24 year old on-line book selling business mostly J.R.R. Tolkien first and early editions. We do not have a shop, but can meet you locally or come to you by appointment. Note this is our office address. Some stock may be out on exhibition, out of the country and may delay our delivery time. We are located in the Southern part of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales, UK. We deliver high value orders by hand (£100.000 +) anywhere in the world at just our travel costs.
Specialty
J.R.R. Tolkien first and early editionsSeller's business information
Festival Art and Books
United Kingdom
Terms of sale
Description and Condition
We do not provide highly detailed descriptions as photographs now make it easier to see defects more accurately. All our photos are of the actual books and any serious defects not shown in a photo are mentioned in the description. Please ask for additional photos if needed. We only sell very good or better, investment grade condition books. We will only note unusual or serious flaws we think has a serious effect the value. We do not consider owner names, inscriptions or jacket price clipping to be serious defects. Please ask in advance of purchase if you have special concerns about the condition.
Payment
Unless otherwise agreed in advance, full payment is due at time of the order through Abebook payments, but you can pay us direct. Payment mathod must be confirmed by the customer within 48 hours or the order will be cancelled. Payment can be made in Pounds or Dollars by bank transfers or credit card by a secure link. Crediat cards incur a 4% fee. Bank transfers within the UK are free, but if paying from overseas make sure to pay the wire fees as the sender. If you require international bank transfer details, please email us. Delayed payment of fees and payment will delay shipping of your order or cancellation.
Returns
Returns are allowed within 14 days of receipt, subject to advance approval. Returns must be sent signed-for and tracked. If we consider the return our fault, we will pay the return cost. The item must be in the exact same condition as originally sent or the return may be declined or a re-stocking fee applied. The purchase price will be refunded within one week of receipt of the item. If you have any questions or concerns about an item or our terms, please ask BEFORE making the purchase.
Shipping
We typically ship on Tuesday and Thursday. If you require the item quicker, please ask about our expedite services at an extra charge. Shipping is first class UK, delivery in 1-3 days and economy world-wide which can take as long as 20 working days, though averages around 10. If you prefer a faster service please ask or select the prefer shipping time when you pay for the item. Please ensure your ship to address is correct and displayed as per local address format.
Insurance
Items are shipped uninsured unless arranged otherwise. We do not accept any responsibility for items damaged or lost in shipping unless insurance has been pre-arranged which has a limit of £60,000 value per item. Note, it is not readily known but insurance claims payouts limits are based on comparison of value to other known copies, not for the amount insured. Please ask if you have any concerns about insurrance.
Customs and Sales tax
Regardless of the value, bound books are not subject to customs/tariff in most Western countires. This is based on commodity code, not values. Sales tax varies. We will ship duty paid from UK with the correct codes, however we take no responsibity for any duty or sales tax charges added by the shipper or border agent. If you refuse to pay and the item is return, you will not receive a refund if the item is lost in shipping. If you purchase insurance with courrier but arrnagment with us, they will reflect the full insurance amount as the paperwork value and may incorrecty incur customs charges based on this value. This is incorrect, its still a book and you will need to recover the duty charged from the courier, not us. The same applies to selling platforms like Ebay and Abebooks, who very often incorrectly charge customs and sales tax on books/printed paper because their systems can't distinquish the difference between commodity codes. On high value orders over £60,000 we will deliver at costs which is often less than the cost of insurance and incorrect duty.
Appraisals
We can provide valuations on Tolkien books and art within our particular genre. We have some 22 years experience as a professional book dealer. We have an excellent, publically recognized reputation. It is very important to have a formal valuation on record before an actual loss as it will aid in achieving maximum replacement value from the loss adjustor. General dealers and auction houses are not necessarily expert in specific authors and art genres. It is important to understand you are insuring or claiming for the replacement value, not simply the value at the time of loss. Some items are truly one of a kind and not easily replaceable.
Appraisal Fees are 5% of the valuation amount for items up to £15,000 in value, dropping to 3% over this. We will provide a certificate of current value which includes authentication of the item. Contact MarkFaith@FestivalArtandBooks.com for more information on appraisals.
Shipping terms
Orders usually ship within 3-5 business days on payment confirmation and suitably packaged for safe shipment anywhere in the world. Shipping costs are based on books weighing up to 4.5 LB, or 2 KG to Europe and North America. If your book/s is heavier or over-sized or requires extra insurance, we will contact you to let you know the extra cost.