The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set: The Hobbit / The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King

This is quite simply the best box set of Tolkien’s work that I have. To be clear, I have many different copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), including the Folio Society editions from the eighties. I also have the Harper Collins Deluxe edition box set of The Hobbit, LOTR (50th Anniversary), The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin; the LOTR 60th anniversary single volume hardback edition illustrated by Alan Lee in a blue binder; the Deluxe LOTR Indian Paper single volume edition; The Hobbit illustrated by Jemima Catlin in a lovely cloth green hardback edition (this is actually my favourite edition of The Hobbit next to Alan Lee, with really good quality binding, paper and text font). With all that said, I like to think that I can offer a realistic opinion of this new box set from Harper Collins (with the latest updated text and illustrated by Alan Lee). If you are lucky to receive a set that is undamaged and in perfect condition (there have been reviews about poor packaging and damaged items), then this set is top notch both from the viewpoint of displaying the set and for the more important viewpoint of actually reading the volumes rather than leaving them to look pretty on your book shelf. So, why is this set so good, especially as I am reviewing these after the Folio Society has just released a limited edition of the LOTR with the same updated text and the same illustrations (apart from a handful of new illustrations) costing £1000!!! The new Folio Society set is obviously good, but I actually think that the books they have produced are simply too large and heavy (12” high) and way over priced even by Folio Society standards. This has only reinforced my opinion on how good this set is, and not just because of the price difference. Firstly, I would like to address some reviews criticising the dust Jackets. I agree that they might have been better in a thicker glossy paper, but they are perfectly acceptable to me. I say this as the inner binding covers are top quality and very robust, such that I have read all four volumes without the dust jacket (leaving it in the box set in the place of the actual volume) and none of them have a blemish in sight. Also, by removing the dust jacket for reading it makes it more enjoyable without having to worry about the dust jacket sliding up or coming loose (or becoming worn or torn). Also, if you want to reference the maps on the end-papers when reading, it is so much easier without the dust jacket getting in the way. I also think the illustrations look better without glossy paper (as they are water colours anyway), and I think this also applies to the illustrations within the books. Also, after reading the entire box set it still looks brand new! The quality of the paper in these books is excellent. Compared to the previous box set from Harper Collins (LOTR in thre...

My Aunt, who is now in her middle 70's, has never read The Lord of the Rings... when I discovered this during a phone conversation with her, I decided that was a situation which could not stand. I ordered these for her and had them shipped to her house. Now she has no excuses for not reading them. She said they arrived about 2 days after I ordered them and she put them on her shelf. I have read these stories many times and recommend them to everyone. I have not actually seen this particular version, but it seems much like the others out there.

I'm not much of a high fantasy reader, but my partner asked for this set ! They say for the price it's a great way to read Tolkien! Can dump them in your bag, read out and about without much worry for the book. They are lightweight so perfect for reading on their commute! The durability is fine, the covers are thin so prone to peeling/scuffing etc but if you aren't set on collecting then this is a great option!

I'll keep it short with no life story attached. This is THE set to have;its just so beautiful you can't believe you're reading it.Illustrator Alan lee artwork is breathtaking, it really is and trust me when I say there will never be a better set in the future this is it so go get one or even two. I suppose if there is any downside it would be the books covers. Their very thin and can be damage easily so maybe don't get this set for a child or someone who doesn't understand the vaule of real artwork. When I was reading The Hobbit I just took the cover off and display it ontop of my book shelf in order to preserve the integrity of the cover. Besides for that little thing that isn't a bother for a collector, this is just a amazing set!

“Lord of the Rings”, or #LOTR as it has been dubbed following the filming of two series by Peter Jackson, one quite good and then the Hobbit three-part series virtually unwatchable – garbage in technicolor. He forgot, in that filming that the greatness of the Hobbits was to be found in feats of epic goodness, not martial strength, and had Bilbo sword-in-hand fighting the Wargs. J.R.R. Tolkien is still turning and turning and turning again. #LOTR, of “Big Bang Theory” fame, is not – as Hollywood’s illiterate would have us believe – an extended version of Dungeons and Dragons, a refuge for “Nerds” who cannot “get laid” (if you will pardon my crude vernacular). As in with all things, ‘pop culture’ that cannot fathom right and wrong, truth or goodness and therefore must pervert it and warp it to their misunderstanding has also sought to take #LOTR and give it to the ‘losers’ of the world. Thank God the ‘losers’ do tend to strike back, having more staying power than the the denizens living under that storied hill outside of Los Angeles who gave us the likes of “Dude, Where’s My Car” and “The Hangover”. Thank God for J.R.R. Tolkien. I recently completed #LOTR with my little boy, seven years old. Stretching him, to be sure, for the vocabulary that Tolkien brings to bear is prodigious indeed. But that is good for my son. And better for him yet, is the need to wrestle with right and wrong, giving him a sense of good and evil and the epic fight to do what is right in a society that tends to sell facile answers in response to life’s intractable questions. Why would Frodo choose to go on, to the bitter end, without even a mouthful of “lembas” with which to begin the journey home? Who cares what happened to the world, if he were to die in the process of saving it? Why not try and put the ring to the service of Boromir of Gondor – after all power is amoral, is it not? Nothing is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – perhaps Sauron was being misjudged after all or perhaps the perfect beautiful dictatorship of Galadriel, an ice queen beautiful and terrible as the night – might be better than the bumbling Gandalf always concerned with ideas of restraint and propriety. And the story itself? It was not, as Peter Jackson probably thinks, a cool mid-century tale of knights and trolls and ogres. Tolkien pulled his story from seeds buried deep – since the belly of time – the ancient ring brought to us by Norse legend, the figure of Gandalf a wizard from the misty days of the North-Atlantic when somebody sat on a rock and penned the saga of Grendel (which, also, Hollywood ruined). It is deeply religious, though Tolkien himself denied it – a eucatastrophe where victory is seized at the eleventh hour from the jaws of a more-powerful defeat by a cast of characters which are not deeply flawed but deeply weak. Therein lies the heart of this story, and what I ...