Together, 3 volumes, 8vo. Folding map tipped-in each volume, printed in red and black by Christopher Tolkien. Original red cloth, gilt-lettered spines, top edges stained red (spines leaned, light spotting to text block); dust jackets (light soiling and toning to spines and near flaps folds, splits along joints of The Fellowship of the Ring, cellotape repaired neatly on verso, tiny nicks to fore-corners); folding case. Provenance: The Times Library, London (stamp on rear pastedown of The Fellowship); Betty K. Burns (ownership signatures on pastedown near gutter).

FIRST EDITIONS, ALL FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE GREATEST FANTASY NOVEL EVER WRITTEN. The Return of the King has the newly corrected and accepted first issue points: on p. 49, no signature mark is present, and the lines of type are straight. In Hammond’s bibliography, it was noted that in The Return of the King, the first impression, first state, was marked by the signature mark “4” and sagging type on p. 49 but has since corrected this to say that these are indicative of the first impression, second and third states. Hammond noted this misinterpretation in Issue 11 of The Tolkien Collector (October 1995).

Considered the greatest fantasy trilogy of the modern era, C.S. Lewis wrote of it that: “no imaginary world has been projected which is at once as multifarious and so true to its own inner laws; none so seemingly objective, so disinfected from the taint of an author’s merely individual psychology; none so relevant to the actual human situation yet so free from allegory.” Tolkien, a noted scholar of Old English, conceived the idea for his tales set in “Middle Earth” while in the trenches of the First World War; its immense influence has been felt ever since.

In a new preface to the 1965 edition, Tolkien wrote: "As for any inner meaning or 'message,' it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical." In his essay entitled "On Fairy-Stories," Tolkien describes his purpose in writing about an imaginary world: "The peculiar quality of the 'joy' in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth. It is not only a 'consolation' for sorrow of this world, but a satisfaction, and an answer to that question, 'Is it true?' The answer to this question that I gave at first was (quite rightly): 'If you have built your little world well, yes: it is true in that world." Hammond A5a-i, ii, and iii; Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction 1606-8; Pringle, Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels 16; Cawthorn & Moorcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books 76.