[Bêthberry]

Well, I will get back to the original question and say that the problem lies with Tolkien and his constant niggling.

Once a book is published, it cannot be unpublished (although it can be censored, banned or burned). Even if it were withdrawn from book sales, it would still exist in libraries (unless they pulled it off the shelves, and what a cry that would raise!), in private collections, and in the dearly loved memories of the children who had it read to them or of the children who read it and also of those adults who love it too, tra la la lally and all.

Tolkien was of course free to see, as a sort of academic exercise, if TH could be retoned to suit LotR. But that would/will always remain a post-publication exercise. Once a book is given to the world, it cannot be taken back. It no longer 'belongs' to the author, but to the world. Any revision would be simply a second (or third, as the case may be) version, and left to the tastes of the reading public.