Tolkien 2024: Lord of the Rings 70th, and Stopping at The Silmarillion?

There are some exciting things happening next year with regards to Tolkien. 

The main event, is that throughout the year and ending in November, is that the 12-book (13, counting the index book) History of Middle-earth series will be published in hardback format....as 12 individual hardbacks. This is in celebration of Christopher Tolkien's centenary. There will be other releases throughout the year too, that remain to be seen. 

For the sake of this post, I wish to examine two areas or aspects: 

- will certain styles of books continue past The Silmarillion?

- will there be a 70th Anniversary Edition of The Lord of the Rings? 




Will Unfinished Tales arrive in the special edition format? (Unjacketed hardback collector’s edition) And, illustrated by the author? 

That's what I'm curious about. In 2021, the 'illustrated by the author' format began with The Lord of the Rings. Then, next year, The Silmarillion came out. Lastly, this year, The Hobbit came out. So, what - if anything - can we expect in 2024? Will other titles arrive in this style? It's far too early to know, but we'll see. These came out in September, so if September 2024 yields no new title in that format, that's it I suppose. 

Special mention goes to the special edition unjacketed collector's editions: The Silmarillion is arriving in that format in early 2024. So far, these titles 'correspond' with the 'illustrated by the author' titles. Can we expect further Tolkien titles to also arrive in this format? 




For the 70th Anniversary of The Lord of the Rings, will it be the ‘illustrated by the author’ edition divided into 3, and be boxed with the Companion? For the 50th, it went: 1-book hardback, 1-book deluxe, and 3-part boxed set with the Companion. All that’s missing in the ‘illustrated by the author’ format for The Lord if the Rings, is the boxed set. This could possibly arrive in June - should this exist in 2024. 

That is to say, if a 70th Anniversary Edition were to come out: the publishers may choose to celebrate the 75th. I wouldn't be surprised if the 70th is celebrated, due in fact that there were new editions for the 50th, then the 60th. As it currently stands, I kind of consider the 'illustrated by the author' edition to be the 70th: unless/until a new edition comes out in 2024 (even if it was a few years early.) 

A Tolkien post or two after this one will likely appear by the end of the 2023. 

Stay tuned....! 

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