johnboy3434

While I'm sure the quality of the books is finer elsewhere (you seem to know a lot more about it than I do), this list was specifically targeted at American Tolkien fans. As such, I listed American editions and links so they can buy it at the bookstore instead of getting it online (some prefer this because of the "instant gratification" factor). The only exceptions I made were when something relatively significant was added to a foreign edition and was not released Stateside (like the addition of Lúthien Tinúviel to "The Road Goes Ever On"), and when a work wasn't released Stateside at all (the HoMe Index, which probably won't ever be released, considering it's been five years since its publication). The same goes with the HotH books: that haven't shown up on our side of the Atlantic, yet.

If it was supposed to list the best versions overall, I would have looked into the foreign editions with more scrutiny, and probably changed a few entries (such as the condensing of the HoMe into three volumes). Oh, and offhand, what exactly is "deluxe" about the deluxe edition of Poems and Stories that makes it worth $200+? Is it some sort of protective jacket, some extra illustrations, or what? Despite its out-of print status, I chose Poems and Stories because it is the largest collection of Tolkien's works that includes "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" (well, A Tolkien Miscellany has Gawain, Pearl, and Orfeo in place of Beorhtnoth, but I chose the latter because it was actually a work written from scratch by Tolkien, instead of a translation of a preexisting work).