The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien
1954 First U.S. Edition
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston
ISBN: N/A
Hardcover in dust-jacket
424 pp.
Cover illustration by Walter Lorraine
Hammond Page Ref.: pp. 99-102
Tolkien Collector Ref.: Issue no. 20, pp. 25-34 (Frisby)*
Notes
Typeset as for the Allen & Unwin 1954 First Edition. Reset for the 2nd UK (3rd US) Impression.
Published October 21, 1954.
Stated Print History:
1st Impression: July, 1954 – 1,500 copies
2nd Impression: December, 1954 (does not exist)
3rd Impression: January, 1955 – 3,000 copies
4th Impression: November, 1955 – 500 copies
5th Impression: March, 1956 – 500 copies
6th Impression: December, 1956 (does not exist)
7th Impression: October, 1957 – 1,000 copies
8th Impression: 1959 – 1,500 copies
9th Impression: 1960 – 1,500 copies
10th Impression: 1961 – 1,000? copies
11th Impression: 1961 – 1,000 copies
12th Impression: 1962 – 2,500 copies
13th Impression: 1963 – 3,000 copies
14th Impression: 1964 – 2,500 copies
15th Impression: 1965 – 2,500 copies
16th Impression: 1965 – 5,000 copies
Two variants have been noted for the 3rd Impression:
- Half-title page lacks the Allen & Unwin device and p. 424 lacks a colophon.
- Half-title page bears the Allen & Unwin device and on p. 424 a colophon is present. Two variants seen:
- Cancel title-leaf on laid paper.**
- Cancel title-leaf on wove paper.
The 1st Impression dust-jacket can be recognized by the following points:
- In the tenth line of the back flap blurb, the ascender on the ‘d’ in ‘Frodo’ is clipped (this flaw is unique to the 1st Impression jacket). The following ‘o’ is not nicked as is found on some later dust-jackets (at least the 8th, 9th and 12-16th Impressions).
- The bottom edge of the photograph of Tolkien on the back cover is trimmed straight across. In the impressions immediately following this (the 3rd and 4th) the photo is trimmed with a shallow ‘v’ shape at the bottom. However, the 8th, 9th and 12th-16th Impressions were also trimmed straight across and it is likely that other Impressions not yet seen were as well.
After the 9th Impression, the line drawing on the dust-jacket was changed from dark brown to black (a subtle difference). With the 10th, 11th or 12th Impression the lettering was changed from red to brown.
The 3rd-9th impressions (1955-1960) lack any statement of year or impression number on their copyright page (the 1st Impression states the year on its title page and copyright page). The first thirteen impressions (1954-1963) were bound in the US from imported British sheets. Consequently, each US impression has a corresponding UK impression (with the exception of the 3rd Impression, Variant B). The 14th-16th impressions (1964-1965) were printed in the US.
The report of this edition as a possible ‘Christmas Extra’ from the Science Fiction Book Club (mentioned in Hammond’s Bibliography, p. 102) has been found to be erroneous, referring in fact to the Reader’s Union 1960 Book Club Edition. See TolkienGuide.US for further detail.
Jacket price: Unpriced until the 10th? Impression: $5.00 by the 12th Impression; $5.95 with the 14th Impression.
*Steven M. Frisby put together a very useful guide entitled ‘Identifying First Edition Printings of the Houghton Mifflin Lord of the Rings Part I’ which was printed in the The Tolkien Collector, Issue no. 20, pp. 25-34 in July, 1999. Further information can also be found in plenty at TolkienBooks.net.
**Some of these copies may have been converted by replacing the title/title verso pages and pages 29-30 (see TolkienBooks.net).
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| The Two Towers (1955) | The Return of the King (1956) |