Thread: Best edition
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Hi, I'm new, so if I do a mistake, people will change the place of the topic (or lock it)
I'm french, and after reading the LOTR in my mother tongue, I would read it in English.
And I have a question: What is the best edition? Is it Americain, English? The price is not very important (I have money
). I want, of course, a beautiful edition, big etc!
Thanks and bye!
There shouldn't be any difference in the text between the English and American editions. You can probably get an English edition faster. I'll leave it to one of the others to suggest a beautiful edition.
Is anybody familiar with the Harvard Lampoon's edition?
I've never read the Harvard Lampoon book (I hesitate to call it an edition) but my husband has and loves to needle me by quoting it
I know that the text is the same in all editions, but about the quality, and the beauty...
What do you think?
With respect to text, today I would suggest the one volume
Fiftieth Anniversary edition of 2004 (or its reprint in 2005 which contains more corrections). This was a fresh effort
'... to produce a text as close as possible to what its author intended, as far as that could be conservatively determined.' Tolkien's publishers and the Estate agreed with the 'fresh effort' proposal, and Hammond and Scull got to work (they explain the edition in much more detail in their Reader's Companion)
It's also quite beautiful (has a slipcase) though a bit on the expensive side -- it's similar in look to previous one volume 'Red Book' editions, which I would recommend also for beauty.
Quote:
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. 50th anniversary edition. [Ed. with a note by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull.] London: HarperCollins; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Beginning with late 2005 printings, the edition contains further emendations and a new, enlarged index by Hammond and Scull.
I only have one
very small 'problem' with one of the notes from H&S, but it does not affect the tale proper in any case.
And do you think it's the HoughtMiffling 's edition or HapperCollin's edition which is the best? (sorry for the spelling).
About of course the fiftieth 's edition...
Thanks a lot!
They both look nice to me! Here's a look at one (deluxe)...
50th Anniversary
There's also a link on the page (the page you arrive at after clicking on this link) for another version of the 50th Anniversary edition.
And do you know if Houghton Mifflin has an edition of
2005?
Because I know that the 2005's editions are better than 2004's edition.
Or it has just the big one, blue and pages in gold?
Thanks for your great help!
If there is for some ridiculous and pompous reason a difference between the American and English editions get the English. At least then you would be reading the books as Tolkien wrote them.
...Imagining Gandalf surprised - "Well I'll be knee-high to a Grasshopper".....
There are so many it seems. I personally think that you must decide upon which one on your own because you have your own taste, your own sense of what is beautiful. I would tend to go with one that has the most corrections.
My daughter purchased a boxed hard cover edition of the Hobbit at the supermarket of all places and it was wondrous beautiful. It also had a huge map of Middle-Earth and even a CD with the exerpt of Gollum and Bilbo in the cave testing one another with riddles. JRR himself is doing the reading and truthfully his way of reading that part terrified me. It never really bothered me when I read it but for some odd reason he made Gollum seem so diabolical and hideous that I had to stop at one point, couldn't force myself to listen further at that time. But oh the joy of hearing his own voice. superb.
Ok, Thanks all for your help!^^
Wow, I had no idea that all these beautiful editions even existed! Here we seem so innundated with the paperbacks printed after the movies.. Leelee, I'd love to know more about your daughter's edition of the Hobbit, it would be wonderful to hear the Professor's voice.
I will find out as soon as I am able. Yes it is a thrill, I hope to actually listen to the entire thing soon. I just could not get over that she got this boxed book at a supermarket that had no others, it was just thrown in the bin so to speak.And gorgeous, it was unbelievable. The map, fabulous, the book cover, thrilling and the CD, so unexpected and a treat.It is like being in the room with him, his voice is rather like I thought in my mind, a little elderly sounding, rich, full and you get the sense of gentleness and humour. I could tell he put all he had into the voices and knew the effect was hairraising. Wonderful
So I think I will buy the american's edition (of 2004, unfortunately...), and not english's editions of 2005 because they are too expensive...
It is blue and gold, and it's very nice!
