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First American edition of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1977. Includes a publisher's letter to reviewers and folded biographical publicity material.
#clp0189bk - The Silmarillion - First American Edition with Publisher's Publicity Material - Houghton Mifflin 1977 - 2550 EUR

First American edition of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1977. Includes a publisher's letter to reviewers and folded biographical publicity material.

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The Silmarillion – 1977 First American Edition with Publicity Material


J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. First printing.


The copyright page states First American Edition and First Printing, with a complete number line ending in 1. ISBN 0-395-25730-1. This copy is accompanied by a publisher’s letter to reviewers and folded publicity material about Tolkien and his books.

The Houghton Mifflin letter is dated 10 August 1977 and discusses the coordinated September release, asking reviewers to observe the publication schedule. It bears a signature above the typed publicity director’s name; the photographs do not establish whether that signature is handwritten or reproduced. The accompanying biographical material also discusses Christopher Tolkien and announces The Silmarillion at $10.95. Both items are photographed in clear protective sleeves and show folds and age-toning.

Green cloth binding with gilt spine lettering. The illustrated dust jacket retains the $10.95 price and credits the jacket drawing to J.R.R. Tolkien, colouring to H. E. Riddett and jacket design to Louise Noble. The jacket is protected by a clear cover.

The cloth has light surface marks and handling wear. The jacket shows toning, edge creasing and small nicks, particularly around the spine ends. The endpapers and page edges are age-toned with some scattered spotting; the photographed text pages appear generally clean.

A first American printing accompanied by material documenting the publisher’s launch of Tolkien’s posthumous masterpiece.

Digital photos available on request.
Pictures (click to enlarge):
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