A complete first-edition set of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, each signed by author J.R.R. Tolkien, recently sold for a record $287,500 at British auction house Forum Auctions.
The set is believed to have been one of a small number gifted by Tolkien to directors and managers at publishing house Allen and Unwin.
Complete signed sets have rarely appeared at auction over the last 40 years, according to Forum, which says this set was gifted to sales manager Leslie Berry, who passed the books down through his family to the consignor.
Soon after the success of “The Hobbit,” publishers were eager for Tolkien to produce a sequel. But after Tolkien insisted on releasing “The Lord of the Rings” as a single novel, Allen and Unwin refused to publish the book due to cost concerns.
Tolkien brought the book to William Collins, also hoping to publish “The Silmarillion” alongside it. After running into a similar dispute, Tolkien returned to Allen and Unwin and said he would “gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff,” worried his work would never reach readers.
The books were published under a profit-sharing agreement, with Tolkien receiving zero advance or royalties until the books turned a profit. By 2007, over 150 million copies of the books had been sold, among the best-selling in literary history.
“The Fellowship of the Ring” was initially given 3,000 first state copies, followed by 3,250 for “The Two Towers” and 7,000 for “The Return of the King.” Though quite limited in its initial production, first-edition copies from the series are still not as rare as “The Hobbit,” for which just 1,500 were printed in 1937.
One of the first-edition copies of “The Hobbit” sold in June 2024 for a record $300,000.
In 2022, Christie’s sold a manuscript dubbed “The Rosetta Stone of Middle Earth,” which explained the development of the runes and languages used in “The Hobbit,” for $107,100.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.