Further THE LORD OF THE RINGS 70th Anniversary: Boxed Set Speculation

 

Note: the colour red has been sporadically throughout this post, to capture a 'likeness' to the newly-published special edition.

Now that the new single-volume special edition of The Lord of the Rings with illustrations by Tolkien is now out, I can add further to a previous post about how a 70th Anniversary Edition Boxed Set in 2024 could be executed. This hypothetical-at-this-point edition would use the 2021 special edition in standard hardback format as the template. The image above is taken from the slipcased edition, and I can see this exact same design going directly onto the box.

 

Before we begin, a little history.

 

In 2004, there was a 4-book boxed set (The Lord of the Rings as three parts, plus the Reader's Companion). Then, in 2014, there was a 60^th anniversary boxed set, which is quite similar to the 50th set aesthetically, with some updates to the text.

2024 will be the 70th anniversary. So, can we expect another 3-part boxed set with the Companion to be issued? I think 'yes', and this is how I think it would happen: I think it will essentially be the 2021 single-volume edition, but divided into three parts, and placed in a box with the Companion as has been the case with the 50th and 60th Anniversary Boxed Sets.

The 2021 edition features/comes with:


~ the book itself comes in a dark blue box, which features the Doors of Durin on it. On the rear is the ISBN.

~ The cover of the dustjacket looks similar to the original edition: The Ring and Eye motif (featuring only Gandalf's ring, not the other two of the three Elvin rings in the image) on a white background. There is a hole in the dustjacket for the actual Eye itself to be visible under the dustjacket. Or....through. Whatever the proper terminology may be.

~ The two maps (Middle-earth, and Rohan/Gondor/Mordor) come tucked inside the book, which is shrink wrapped.

~ The edges of the pages are 'sprayed' red with the Ring Inscription appearing on them in white

~ features a white ribbon-marker

~ Tolkien's 'name' doesn't appear, but his signature does in its place. This is on the dustjacket, as well as on the title page. Runes at top and bottom of cover page and verso also appear in red. The title of the book is in red.

~ The Ring Inscription at the very beginning appears as a facsimile of Tolkien's writing, not as text.

~ 'Note on the Illustrations' (excerpted from The Art of The Lord of the Rings) at beginning (no 'Note on the Text', as was the case with the 3-part Alan Lee illustrated editions from 2020.)

~ each of the three parts' cover designs appears in the respected segment of the book (unsure if this replaces their titles or not, or appears alongside as a facsimile)


Now, let's see how all of that could 'translate' from the 2021 single-volume edition to a three-part boxed set.


~ The box set could come in its own outer cardboard box, bearing The Doors of Durin, like the 2021 edition

~ The 'book box' (meaning what the 4 books go inside of) could feature either the usual version of the Ring and Eye motif (with the three Elvin Rings) in just gold, or an 'enhanced classic' version, which would be identical to how it looks on the 2021 slipcased edition of the book itself. So it'd be gold and red. (seen at the top of this post.)

~ the 'book box' (would it be called 'slipcase...?') also wouldn't say “J.R.R. TOLKIEN” on it, but bear his signature instead.

~ The cover of the dustjackets. The covers of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King could be the same as what they were for the 50^th anniversary editions, and the 60^th anniversary editions (except, they wouldn't say “J.R.R. TOLKIEN” but instead feature his signature, and say 'illustrated by the author.'

~ The two maps (Middle-earth, and Rohan/Gondor/Mordor) could be tucked inside the box (w/ the books), perhaps in an envelope or sleeve for protection?
~ The edges of the pages would be sprayed in red. However, due to the size of each of the three parts – as well that there are 3 of them, not 1 – the Ring Inscription might be harder to execute. At the least though, the page edges should be red, including those of the Companion.

~ the endpapers would be red

~ each part (physical book or volume) would feature its own white ribbon-marker

~ Tolkien's 'name' doesn't appear in the books, but his signature does in its place. This would happen on the title page. Runes at top and bottom of cover page and verso would appear in red. The title of the book (Fellowship, Towers, King) is in red as well.

~ the 'sort of' title page that appears when you first open the book, that only has the name of the book, could feature the red Ring Motif that appears with “THE LORD OF THE RINGS” in the 2021 edition, except in this case, it would read “THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING”, “THE TWO TOWERS” and “THE RETURN OF THE KING” due to it being in 3 instead.

~ each of the three parts' cover designs would not appear as facsimiles, due to the dustjackets featuring their own designs. These facsimiles are not listed on the list of illustrations, so their abscence wouldn't 'disrupt' the contents of the book.

~ the contents (illustration list, etc) would be the exact same as the 2021 edition. So we wouldn't have 'Note on the Text' but we would have 'Note on the Illustrations.'

~ due to packaging and presentation, perhaps don't offer each part separately – only make the 70^th anniversary editions available as the boxed set. If they are offered separately, then The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King would each have a detached Map of Middle-earth, with The Return of the King also having the Rohan/Gondor/Mordor map.

~ The Companion would also aesthetically match The Lord of the Rings, with regards to using red ink, page-edge, endpapers, colouring, etc.


No matter what is in the cards, I look forward to 2024 to seeinf what HarperCollins may publish that year. I think taking the newly-published 2021 special edition and dividing it into three would be great to see.

After all, they did give us a matching edition of The Silmarillion to go with the recent illustrated editions, so maybe we can get lucky twice??

I hope that you've enjoyed reading this, and that the red font wasn't too distracting, as it was meant to be fun. 

The ISBN of the edition I'm basing the 70th Anniversary Boxed Set off of is 9780008471286.