I have been writing, drawing maps, creating languages, weaving histories and birthing charactors for ten years and NOTHING that I have EVER written comes ANYWHERE NEAR Tolkens Lord of the Rings. I read it when I was 12 on my kindle and since then I have been marking it and making notes on it and highliting it till not a single page is all clear. Tolken had the mind of an artist and a small brush in his hand and, with it, created a masterpiece. It is the third only to the Bible and Book of Mormon. YPU MUST READ THIS BOOK!! Since i have read this i have written 3 books and a trilogy and I'm only 13! I love Tolken and his steadfast charactors and diabolical evil and the end which made me cry and I don't cry easily. To sum everything all up, I love the Lord of the Rigns and nothing you write, no matter how little stars you give it, will change my mind.

Others have already left excellent reviews of this edition [ISBN 0-618-26051-X] and of the book, but I wanted to address a couple of points made by reviewers.

1) I'm not having any difficulty with the glare cited by one reviewer. While it's true that all of the pages are glossy, not just the illustrations, this has not caused me any eyestrain or irritation. Changing the book's angle to the light resolves the issue easily.

2) The bigger challenge is the weight of the individual volumes. I chose this edition over the one-volume ones, because those seem to me to be more for display than reading. Even divided into three parts, however, these hardcover volumes are too heavy to hold unsupported for long. You will want to rest them on something, and those with wrist issues may want to consider the paperback editions.

Overall, however, I agree with other reviewers that these are beautiful books with color illustrations, 2-color maps, and clear text (not too tiny). They offer a middle way between a truly massive one-volume and less displayable paperback versions.

i love my copy of the lord of the rings trilogy. it's amazing. it's a classic! everyone needs a copy!

The item I purchased came to me in perfect condition, brand new; exactly as I expected it to.

60 pages in and I have already found a number of obvious typos. Dissapointing to say the least. Hopefully HC will re-release this with errors fixed.