Lord of the Rings (books) text question (1 Viewer)

[Phil L]

I was just about to start reading Return of the King for the first time and looking around at the first few pages I didn't see the corrected text description that some of the LOTR books seem to have. Its a hardcover copy printed in 1987 by Book Club Associates. I assume its the corrected text but does anyone know for sure?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I think the corrected text disclaimers mostly appear in paperback editions. In 1965 or thereabouts Ace Books found a loophole in the copyright law and put out an unathorized edition of The Lord of the Rings based on the original hardcover printing (for which the copyright had lapsed due to some sort of technical mistake by the publisher.) At the same time an authorized paperback edition, based on a later hardcover version, was released by Ballantine Books. This originally carried various notes pointing out that it was the only paperback edition approved by Tolkein, and that it contained the entire corrected text of the trilogy.

Tolkein and his publishers sued, and Ace either lost or reached a settlement whereby they paid royalties owed and stopped printing their version. The various authorized paperbacks continued to carry notes about the "full and corrected text" for many years after. I'm not sure if the hardcovers ever did.

There is also an unrelated note in most editions of The Hobbit. When that was reissued in hardcover following the success of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkein went back and revised certain passages to fix some continuity errors that had cropped up between the two works, especially details of the Riddle Game and the finding of the Ring. The note explaining this appears in all modern editions of the book, including the 50th anniversary collectors edition I picked up some years ago.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Tolkein went back and revised certain passages to fix some continuity errors

Now where have I heard that before?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Now where have I heard that before?

Never thought of it that way. DAMN! Lucas really never has had an original idea. He even stole this from Tolkein!
But he didn't do it as well. Tolkein's changes actually made sense.
Regards,
Joe

 

[nolesrule]

Didn't Tolkien digitally alter The Hobbit so that Gollum riddled first instead of Bilbo?
Sorry, couldn't resist.