Wednesday, November 07, 2001
Tolkien's Got Game
- Xoanon @ 13:07 PST
From: Geb
Here is an article that was in todays "Virginian Pilot" from Norfolk, VA. Decipher is based in Norfolk, hence I think, the local news article.
LOTR Statues
- Xoanon @ 08:37 PST
Scorio sends us these links to a site where you can get some *limited edition* (now sure how limited, if at all) LOTR statues. Now these aren't as expensive as the statues from Sideshow, however they aren't as high a quality figure as well. But take a look at that Lurtz!
Sunday, November 04, 2001
Treason At Isengard Intelliblock Set
- Xoanon @ 11:45 PST
Blick sends along these images of the Playmates Intelliblocks 'Treason At Isengard' diorama. Now you can scream 'Saruman of many colors!!!' as many times as you want. He also sends along some of the figures you get with different dioramas, a Frodo, Wraith...quite detailed for about 3 1/2 inches high.
Friday, November 02, 2001
LOTR Auction At Christie's
- Xoanon @ 12:44 PST On Nov 16th at Christie's there will be the following auction (estimated to bring in 25,000-35,000 British pounds). Maybe one of your readers has too much money. TOLKIEN, John Ronald Reuel (1892-1973). A collection of works in presentation, association and proof copies, and a series of fourteen letters, discussing the production of The Lord of the Rings, comprising: LETTERS A series of eleven autograph letters signed and three typed letters signed ('Ronald olkien', 'Tolkien', 'Ronald', and 'JRRT') to George Sayer (one to Mrs George Sayer), Oxford and London, 7 August 1952 - 11 December 1971 and n.d., 25 pages, 8° and 4°, in autograph, and 5˝ pages, 4°, typewritten, three envelopes; with a transcription (presumably by Sayer) of runes from The Hobbit. BOOKS A. The Lord of the Rings: (i) Proof The Fellowship of the Ring. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, '1953' [sic]. 8° (218 x 140mm). (A few leaves lightly marked, pp.32-33 slightly affected by adhesive.) Original brown paper wrappers, the upper wrapper with pasted-on typewritten lettering-piece reading 'THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING , by , J.R.R. Tolkien', and ink inscription 'Not less than 21/- , nor more than 25/-' (slightly marked, corners a little dog-eared, short tears at head and tail of spine causing minor losses). PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. In this copy the number '12' on p.21 has been corrected in pencil, and the uncorrected errors on p.48, ll.13-14, p.166, l.41, and p.197, l.40 have been retained. The illustrations which occur on pp.59, 319 and 333 of the first edition have been omitted. For the first edition cf. Hammond and Anderson A5ai; West A20. The Two Towers. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954. 8° (223 x 143mm). (Short tear affecting text on 6/1, short marginal tears on 19/7, 21/3-4 and 22/8.) Original brown paper wrappers, with two typewritten lettering-pieces pasted onto upper wrapper, reading 'about 21s.' and 'THE TWO TOWERS , by , J.R.R. Tolkien' (corners slightly frayed, short tears at head and tail of spine). PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. This copy has the incorrect 'all the season of the year' reading on p.111, l.34, but the correct 'may like' reading on p.350, l.31 (misprinted as 'maylike' in the first edition). For the first edition cf. Hammond and Anderson A5aii; West A21 (erroneously dated 1955). The Return of the King. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, '1954' [sic]. 8° (200 x 154mm). Circa 295 loose galley sheets, printed on rectos only, and the loose galley sheets of the Appendices, calligraphic manuscript title 'The Return , of the , King. , Appendices , pp.313-416' in Tolkien's hand, paginated 313-416, pp.379-383 and 401-403 in Tolkien's hand, corrected by Tolkien in red, blue and black inks, the first leaf with printer's inkstamp dated 29 June 1955 and dated by Tolkien 'received July 2'. (Some leaves a little frayed or occasionally torn and marked, p.360 erroneously inserted between pp. 377 and 378.) The main text in loose sheets, the Appendices held together with a paper fastener. PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, THE APPENDICES CORRECTED THROUGHOUT BY TOLKIEN. For the first edition cf. Hammond and Anderson A5aiii; West A22. (ii) First edition The Fellowship of the Ring. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954. 8° (221 x 140mm). Folding map and full-page map printed in red and black after Christopher Tolkien, line illustrations after J.R.R. Tolkien. Original red cloth titled in gilt on the spine, dustwrapper (spine slightly cocked, lower hinge split by folding map, dustwrapper torn across upper panel and at extremities causing minor losses). Provenance: 'George Sayer' (inscription on upper pastedown). FIRST EDITION. Hammond and Anderson A5ai; West A20. The Two Towers. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1954. 8° (221 x 140mm). Folding map printed in red and black after Christopher Tolkien. (Small mark on text of pp.344-345.) Original red cloth titled in gilt on the spine, dustwrapper (spine slightly cocked, light marking on joints, dustwrapper lightly marked and with small tears causing minor losses at edges). FIRST EDITION. Hammond and Anderson A5aii; West A21 (erroneously dated 1955). The Return of the King. London: Jarrold and Sons Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1955. 8° (219 x 140mm). Folding map printed in red and black after Christopher Tolkien. Original red cloth titled in gilt on the spine, dustwrapper (spine slightly cocked, dustwrapper lightly marked and with small tears causing minor losses at edges). FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE, with signature '4' on p.49. Hammond and Anderson A5aiii; West A22. B. Other Works (iii) The Hobbit or There and Back Again. London: Unwin Brothers Limited for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1959. 8° (184 x 121mm). Colour-printed frontispiece and line illustrations after Tolkien. Original decorated cloth, map endpapers and pictorial dustwrapper after Tolkien (slightly faded at foot of spine, dustwrapper with small, neatly-repaired tears at edges). Eleventh impression. SIGNED ON THE ITLE 'J.R.R. TOLKIEN'. (iv) Farmer Giles of Ham ... or ... The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom. London: Unwin Brothers Limited for George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1949. 8° (199 x 130mm). Colour-printed frontispiece and plate, and line illustrations after Pauline Baynes. Original decorated cloth, dustwrapper with design after Baynes (edges of dustwrapper with minor tears and chipping). Provenance: B.H. Blackwell (bookseller's ticket on upper pastedown). FIRST EDITION. SIGNED ON THE TITLE 'J.R.R. TOLKIEN'. Hammond and Anderson A4; West A17. (v) 'The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son'. Corrected proof sheets of pp.[1]-18 of: Geoffrey BULLOUGH (editor). Essays and Studies 1953 Being Volume Six of the New Series of Essays and Studies Collected for The English Association. London: Wyman & Sons, Ltd for John Murray, 1953. 8° (216 x 140mm). Collation: [A]4-8 B1-4, 9 stapled leaves. (Variable light browning.) PROOF SHEETS, CORRECTED THROUGHOUT BY TOLKIEN. The manuscript corrections occur on each page (save 16 and 18), amending typographic errors and adding headlines to the rectos of ll. [A]5-B4. For Essays and Studies 1953 cf. Hammond and Anderson B21; West A19. (vi) The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other Verses from the Red Book. London: Jarrold and Sons Ltd for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1962. 8° (222 x 142mm). Illustrations and decorations after Pauline Baynes, some printed in orange and black. Original paper-covered pictorial boards and pictorial dustwrapper after Baynes (edges of dustwrapper a little rubbed and with a few short, clean tears). FIRST EDITION. Hammond and Anderson A6; West A26. (vii) Smith of Wootton Major. London: Unwin Brothers Ltd for George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1967. 12° (149 x 105mm). Frontispiece, line illustrations and decorations after Pauline Baynes. Original glazed-paper covered boards with design after Baynes (extremities lightly rubbed). FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF BINDING. PRESENTATION COPY, with inscribed slip tipped onto upper pastedown 'George , from J.R.R.T. , With best wishes to you , and Moira'. Hammond and Anderson A9a, binding 1; West A34. (viii) The Road Goes Ever On A Song Cycle. Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien music by Donald Swann. London: John Dickens and Co Ltd for George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1968. 4° (278 x 214mm). Printed in red, black and grey. Calligraphic decorations after Tolkien. Original paper-covered boards, dustwrapper with calligraphic design after Tolkien. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. CARD SIGNED 'J.R.R. TOLKIEN' tipped onto front free endpaper, and George Sayer's invitation to the London premiere of The Road Goes Ever On tipped onto the upper pastedown. Hammond and Anderson B28b;West A32 (erroneously dated 1967). Provenance: George Sayer (b.1914). AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF LETTERS, PROOFS AND FIRST EDITIONS SHOWING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The earliest letter in the series asks for the return of a manuscript of The Lord of the Rings, as George Allen & Unwin, the publishers, are now 'clamouring to reconsider' it; the following letter, to Mrs Sayer, refers to an 'astonishing dash to O[xford] and back' by Sayer with the manuscript, and promises 'plenty to [their] taste' in the second half of the work: 'It's pretty well a crescendo until at least Chap. 4 of the last "book". It is on the rallentando and the coda that I am specially anxious for your opinion'. A letter of December 1952 refers hopefully to publication, but by 8 March 1953 Tolkien has 'not even sent in any copy for the "Lord" yet ... it will have to go more or less as it is'; the same letter asks for suggestions for the titles for the individual volumes demanded by Allen & Unwin, and refers to the last book, 'minus on your advice the Epilogue, though I should like some other device for conveying the information it contains'. An undated letter written later the same month contains a new plea for help, this time in writing a publicity blurb for The Lord of the Rings: 'I find myself quite unable to think of anything that is not too apologetic for "publicity" or too much the reverse to contemplate. It is like being asked ... why you are fond of one of your children'. More than a decade later, in March 1966, two letters return to Tolkien's debt of gratitude for Sayer's help, and offer to send him an edition: 'you have never had any token of my gratitude to you for your great kindness and generous support and help in the matter of The L.R. in the dark days of doubt'; 'You did much! You made tape-recordings. You got estimates of printing costs. You were extremely kind to me, at a low ebb. And I believed your praise, somehow more than anyone else's'. In addition to their involvement in the genesis of the Lord of the Rings, the Sayers were close friends, and the letters refer to Tolkien's delight in his visits to their home in Malvern - 'I resemble a hobbit at any rate in being moderately and cheerfully domesticated, though no cook' - and share anxieties and stresses - predominately over his work-load as a professor at Oxford, and about his wife's health and the difficulties of moving house - as well as pleasures - 'I am about to acquire, or should I say solicit the association of, a Cat'. Other literary ventures are referred to: his poem 'The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son' (see v above, Tolkien's corrected proof sheets) 'takes the form of a dramatic dialogue (in alliterative verse) between two 'Anglo-Saxons' after the Battle of Maldon - of about the length of the original poem!'. A series of letters in 1966 refer to the Tolkiens' golden wedding celebrations, as part of which Donald Swann is to perform one of his settings of Tolkiens' verse (see viii above); the last letter in the series briefly acknowledges condolences on his wife's death. Whilst staying at Sayer's house in Malvern (where he taught English) in 1952, Tolkien made a series of recordings of extracts from The Lord of the Rings: it was his first encounter with a tape recorder, and he found it necessary to exorcise the machine by intoning the Lord's Prayer in Gothic into the mouthpiece - in two letters of Summer 1953 here Tolkien refers to his BBC recordings which were inspired by these experiments. In a letter to Rayner Unwin enclosing the Sayer's blurb for The Lord of the Rings Tolkien refers to Sayer as 'the most normal reader and liker of the work that I could think of ... the blurb ... surprised me ... 'greatest living poet' is absurd'.
From: Wenigweiser
LOTR Ring Replicas
- Xoanon @ 12:04 PST
From: Queen Of Naboo
Today when I went to Suncoast my brother noticed they had Frodo's ring, which I bought imediately. It comes with a chain box that lights up, and the inscription ingraved on it. Not bad for only $14.99. There are several rings but they only had the One ring.
Thursday, November 01, 2001
LOTR Clothes
- Xoanon @ 23:13 PST
No, not clothes inspired by LOTR (mind you we have reported on something like that as well), no these are some sweats, hoodies and hats with the LOTR logo on them. Pretty neat, thanks to Rene.
Weekly Ebay Items
- Xoanon @ 11:11 PST TheOneRing.net makes no money from these items. Lord of the Rings movie 8 ct gld THE ONE RING Set of 4 - Lord of the Rings Statues Easton Press TOLKIEN LORD OF THE RINGS LEATH! LORD OF THE RINGS poster signed x17 PROOF! LG. Lord of the Rings Chess Set ~Tolkien ent. LORD OF THE RINGS, OFFICIAL 'GLAMDRING' SWORD
Each week, I scour Ebay looking for the hot Tolkien items up for sale. I post the most interesting here for you to bid on. You can click on any item you wish, it does not mean you are bidding for the item. Have fun and keep checking back here every week! See something I've missed on another auction site? Drop me a line!
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Coolio Houghton Mifflin Goodies
- Xoanon @ 18:42 PST Take a look at this. There is a timeline countdown of events concerning LOTR. There are things on here that I haven't seen before. You may know about them already, but go ahead and take a look. There are also books for themovie with tie ins and books that have movie footage in and on the covers pages. You can buy them here I believe.
From: Tolkien Girl
Tuesday, October 30, 2001
The Quest CD
- Xoanon @ 08:40 PST Thought You guy's may not have noticed this new site that they are currently advertising on NZ TV....
From: Mike
The Quest, an epic musical journey inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Composed and produced by Carlin, The Quest harks back to an age of mystery, chivalry and intrigue – close your eyes as you listen and you’ll be spirited away to the world of the mediaeval. A place where pipers summon armies to mounted combat, noblemen gaze through morning mist into lush valleys, and always there is a sense of movement – preparation, confrontation, evasion and celebration - The Quest is a journey in sound – simultaneously involving, enlightening, foreboding and rewarding, and, like all great journeys, the pleasure is in the taking.
Monday, October 29, 2001
Royal Selangor's NEW Rings-Inspired Pewterware
- Jincey @ 23:10 PST
I recently had the opportunity, at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, to see the complete line of Royal Selangor's Lord of the Rings pewterware. [More!]