Lord of the Rings – Deluxe Edition
After many many years, I finally upgraded my copy of the Lord of the Rings. My old one, a paperback edition was worn out, carried around the world a few times, studied several times. When I found this new, beautiful Deluxe Edition, with Alan Lee’s beautiful watercolour paintings, I couldn’t resist and bought it.
My old one was great, I really loved it. Good for carrying around, filled with sheets of paper like the one on the side, where I scribbled around with runes, deciphering text. This book really became a good friend of mine. I brought it from Austria to Italy, back to Austria, and then to Japan. Often flipping through the pages, re-reading certain chapter.
But I slowly got scared, pages are falling out of the book, the binding is getting weak, so I decided for a new one. And when I found the Deluxe Edition with Alan Lee’s beautiful watercolour paintings, advertised with:
The text has been reset using the definitive 50th anniversary text and is printed on high-quality paper, and this is accompanied by Tolkien’s own maps, which are printed in red & black as endpapers.
I knew this is the one I want. A steep 60 pounds, plus the less than cheap shipping costs to Japan, not the usual thing you pay for a book. But well, it is not just a book, it is The Book.
And today, finally, after long waiting the delivery man brought me a nice package, heavy. I dropped everything I was doing, cleaned the table, washed my hands, got ready … After opening the outer box and the inner box, I finally could lay my eyes on this nice book:
Slipping it out of the special transparent slipcase, a sturdy, well done book greated me.
Opening the first few pages I am greeted by the first beautiful fold out.
The book is filled with the beautiful watercolour paintings, but also printed on decent, but necessarily thin paper.
Another spread with a paining.
Some might consider me crazy, but I really love this book, and this special edition is somehow a present to myself, after all these years.
And now, I am disappearing from the world, just with this book, for some time!
