The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set: Illustrated edition

When it comes to reading books, I generally hesitate to go back to ones I've previously read. It's not anything to do with the actually quality of the books, but there is always something new to read. However, when it comes to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, there is just something there that has me coming back for more. This beautiful illustrated edition was just another excuse to re-read what is in my opinion, the greatest story told in our time.I can't imagine being around in today's world without knowing what these books are about. But if you're one of the rare cases, I'll try keep it simple. The Hobbit was released in 1937 and is a children's tale about a young Hobbit, Mr Bilbo Baggins. He's hired into serving a large party of Dwarves as their own personal thief. Their goal is to reclaim their long lost mountain kingdom from a viciously greedy dragon. Lord of the Rings takes place a number of years later and sees Frodo Baggins burdened with a ring found by Bilbo on his adventure. This ring belongs to the great dark lord Sauron. This ring contains half of his life essence and will bring about the end of Middle Earth if it falls back into his hands. A group of four Hobbits go on an adventure to destroy this ring, deep in the heart of Mordor. The lair of the dark lord himself.Both stories are a fantastic read. The Hobbit being more focused on children makes it a considerably easier read. I am a terribly slow reader and yet, I can finish this book in a few sittings at most. It's a great timeless tail that is well worth reading. Looking back on it after growing more familiar with the series, it's a little barebones in terms of characterisation and has been written with a lot of restraint. It's considerably less detailed than its successor. But it certainly doesn't take away from the charm and the start of what is later going to be one of the greatest worlds made in fiction.Lord of the Rings is a whole different beast. It leads on nicely from the extremely charming first book and takes it in a considerably darker, more mature place. The story features a lot more characters, all of which are very deeply written. Each character has their own personality and back story. The same can be said for the locations. Everything relates to something in this book and is what makes it such a fascinating read. This is at least three times longer than The Hobbit and split up into three books. The first book whilst highly enjoyable and a little slow to begin with. The second and third books have a much better pace and it's clear this is where the story truly took off. Because of the writing mentioned above, it's considerably denser and packed to brim with information. It's not a read for children but great for young teenagers and older.This illustrated Edition was released in mid 2020 and features a huge array of painting from Alan Lee. It also has the maps etc originally sketched by J.R.R. Tolkien himself. Each book has a beautifully illustrated dust jacket and the books housed in a thick outer slipcase. The dust jackets are my ONLY gripe with this collection. I will happily defend the art used for them. They're fantastic to look at but if I'm honest, I feel like they're the one part of the collection that feels cheap. They're not a very good fit like the books themselves and are very easy to damage, even just by sitting it on my book stand. They constantly fall off and are annoyingly delicate.The actual physical quality of the books are a completely different story. Despite this collection being packed to the brim with a huge amount of pages, it still feels like a reasonably quick read. The text size used is very easy on the eye and the choice of paper is great. It keeps things bright and easy to see. The pages are also a lot thicker than the average book, maintaining the integrity of the paper. It's generally good at avoiding scrapes, bumps and bends. The illustrated pages are all greatly detailed, heavy on colour and printed on a nice glossy sheet. It's a beautiful book to have in your hands.I may not like the dust covers BUT everything else is fantastic. The books themselves are sturdy, the slipcase protects them well, the illustrations are beautiful and it just feels good to read. If you're a fan of the series and want a great replacement for some old shoddy paper back etc, this is a great place to go. Even better for beginners of Tolkien's work. This is a collection you can buy, re-read time and again and it'll last you a lifetime. Assuming you look after it, of course. I couldn't recommend it more.

Love this book set bought it off the back of loving the films . Reading the first book the hobbit. The paper quality is very good and jacket of each book lovely. All fours books housed in a lovely sturdy illustrated book holder looks great on the book shelf. The illustrations are beautiful helping making Tolkien's world come alive fuelling your imagination even more so. The maps as well on the opening and last pages are so useful. So you can follow Bilbo Baggins,Gandalf and his group of dwarves journey through Tolkien's lands to the Lonely Mountain. In real time as you read the book. Also take the time to look up the Rune alphabet online. This will help you decipher the elaborate old rune words that are written on the front pages. Making the book fully interactive and great fun. Can't put this book down Tolkiens story telling is brilliant. Really looking forward to reading the other three books. Totally worth the money. This harback book set feels expensive and would totally recommend.

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 three volumes + LOTR Readers Companion) the paper is twice as thick and very good quality. If you compare The Two Towers between the two sets, this new illustrated volume is twice the depth with the added benefit of NOT being able to see a faint outline of text from the page on the other side. The text font is also a good size and combined with the colour of the paper (not over-white), it makes for very easy and enjoyable reading.I have already mentioned the good quality of the book bindings, which have some nice touches. The Hobbit is a nice deeper shade of green, and the 3 volumes of LOTR are a red maroon – very nice and all combined with good quality gold printing on the spine. The spine top and bottom have matching colour head bands, and all volumes have matching ribbon book markers. These books also have stitched bindings that make them fall open easy and lay flat without having to force them. If reading on a book rest, like me, then they sit perfectly (much like Folio Society books).A good tip (before reading the book) for stitched bindings like these is to lay it open with the front and back boards laying flat on a flat clean surface (remove dust jacket first), while holding the pages of the book upright. Now proceed by alternating between the front and the back of the book and take about ten pages and push it flat onto the back/front boards until you eventually get to the middle and you have one half of the book laying on each of the end-boards – this basically loosens the binding without any fear of damage, and enables it to sit open a little easier even though it has yet to be read (phew! Hope that makes sense).I have mentioned the nice font size, which is complemented by matching colour text (to the binding) – green for The Hobbit and red for LOTR – for chapter headings (including the first capital letter of the chapter text), header titles and page numbering. On page numbering, this set is unique I think whereby the page numbering in the three volumes of the LOTR continues where it left off from the previous volume – this makes sense as the LOTR is one book published in three volumes.Having the latest updated text is a bonus, albeit most of the changes are grammatical or upper v lower case. There are some changes that are worth having, though, like time scales and distances. Alan Lee’s illustrations are a brilliant edition in both The Hobbit and the LOTR, and I think they are perfectly fine even though they are not on glossy paper. However, if like me you have other Alan Lee editions of these books that have the larger glossy illustrations then you can simply look at those at your leisure.All of the above combines with a lovely robust illustrated box-set slipcase, also illustrated by Alan Lee, and that the four volumes slide in and out perfectly fine even after reading all four volumes (unlike some box sets – Harry Potter comes to mind where they get jammed in after reading because they are not stitched bindings even though they are hardcover).If you are a fan of Tolkien, or even if you haven’t read these yet, then do not hesitate and buy this wonderful box set both for visual display and for the pleasure of multiple readings.