Product Description

A one-volume collector's edition boxed and bound in handsome red leatherette with gold, green, and blue foil stamping, two-color text setting, and large format fold-out maps containing the complete texts of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, and six appendices. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell, by chance, into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. From his fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, Sauron's power spread far and wide. He gathered all the Great Rings to him, but ever he searched far and wide for the One Ring that would complete his dominion. On his eleventy-first birthday Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest -- to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard, Merry, Pippin, and Sam, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, Boromir of Gondor, and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127679 in Books
• Published on: 1974-11-01
• Format: Special Edition
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Imitation Leather
• 1216 pages

Amazon.com Review
A Christian can almost be forgiven for not reading the Bible, but there's no salvation for a fantasy fan who hasn't read the gospel of the genre, J.R.R. Tolkien's definitive three-book epic, the Lord of the Rings (encompassing The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King), and its charming precursor, The Hobbit. That many (if not most) fantasy works are in some way derivative of Tolkien is understood, but the influence of the Lord of the Rings is so universal that everybody from George Lucas to Led Zeppelin has appropriated it for one purpose or another.

Not just revolutionary because it was groundbreaking, the Lord of the Rings is timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelf mind. Tolkien was a distinguished linguist and Oxford scholar of dead languages, with strong ideas about the importance of myth and story and a deep appreciation of nature. His epic, 10 years in the making, recounts the Great War of the Ring and the closing of Middle-Earth's Third Age, a time when magic begins to fade from the world and men rise to dominance. Tolkien carefully details this transition with tremendous skill and love, creating in the Lord of the Rings a universal and all-embracing tale, a justly celebrated classic. --Paul Hughes

From Library Journal
The official movie tie-in volume with cover art of a Nazg?l perched upon its black steed offers the complete story in a single volume, as the author intended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A unique, wholly realized other world, evoked from deep in the well of Time, massively detailed, absorbingly entertaining, profound in meaning." -- Review

"Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." -- Sunday Telegraph

Trilogy of fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien comprising The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1955), and The Return of the King (1956). The novels, set in the Third Age of Middle Earth, formed a sequel to Tolkien's THE HOBBIT and were succeeded by his posthumous The Silmarillion (1977). The trilogy is the saga of a group of sometimes reluctant heroes who set forth to save their world from consummate evil. Its many worlds and creatures draw their life from Tolkien's extensive knowledge of philology and folklore. At 33, the age of adulthood among hobbits, Frodo Baggins receives a magic Ring of Invisibility from his uncle Bilbo. A Christlike figure, Frodo learns that the ring has the power to control the entire world and, he discovers, to corrupt its owner. A fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarfs, and men is formed to destroy the Ring by casting it into the volcanic fires of the Crack of Doom where it was forged. They are opposed on their harrowing mission by the evil Sauron and his Black Riders. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Customer Reviews

Amazing trilogy
This has to be one of the greatest contributions to English literature in a long, long time. It is a twentieth century classic.

Tolkien has managed to create an entirely real, tangible, and absolutely enchanting world through sheer characterization, detail, and passion for a people and a place, even if he created them.

The plot itself is entirely epic and exciting, perfect for the people that like action galore. But it also has everything else: great characters, humor, romance, charm. It's very real, even if they are hobbits and elves and whatnot. They'r real people, and Tolkien has made sure of that.

The story is also timeless in that this is simply a great battle between good and evil. I know it's a plot that has been done countless times, but it's still a great plot and I dare say Tolkien was one of the first.

Also of note are the wonderful appendixes going, adding more depth to the incredible world of Middle-Earth.

Excellent writing and wild adventure. What more could you want out of a great book?

Lord of the Rings Book Review
Hello there,

I am about half-way through the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I am loving it. I am amazed at how Tolkien is so descriptive in his writing and puts so much thought to it. The first one-hundred pages are a little rough, but after that it is impossible to put the book down. Obviously, there are no questions asked about how good this book is.

Thank you!

Poor printing
First of all, this review does not in any way reflect my opinion of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in itself. It is a fantastic book, and deserves a worthy hardcover edition. Unfortunately, I cannot endorse this edition. The first copy I purchased had a severe printing defect: The pages were not cut properly, many were oddly shaped and disordered. Thinking it was just a fluke error, I returned it for a fresh copy. As I read my new copy, I realize that it too suffered from defects. Several pages were missing in the first few chapters alone! Two flaws of that magnitude in a row is absolutely unacceptable from any professional printing company. I would suggest looking for another edition, or, if you want this one, inspect it *very carefully* when you receive it to make sure everything is as it should be (not an easy feat with a book over 1,000 pages long!).