Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[davem]

http://tolkiennews.net/article.php?s...70327164529601

Barnes & Noble in New York were originally limiting sales of CoH signed by Christopher Tolkien & Alan Lee to five copies per person. They've now reduced it to two copies per person.

So how many copies have been signed - one assumes that it was a good few dozen, if not a few score, if B&N could make so many signed copies available to each customer - if they only had 10 or 20 copies surely they would have set a limit of one per person.

The other thing that I personally find deeply annoying is that this seems to be the only place (apart from the Tolkien Library competition linked to above) where copies signed by CT & AL will be available. So it would seem that B&N have bought up all the signed copies for their customers.

Now, this seems deeply wrong - & I'm not being chauvinistic here - most of us fans (even in the US) do not live in, or have access to B&N in New York on that day. It strikes me that 'market forces' have played a very nasty part in this & it leaves a bit of a nasty taste in the mouth......

Of course, it may be that other places have copies signed by both CT & AL, but I've not heard of it.

I didn't want anything mar the appearance of this major work, but this is not fair - imo.

I'm grateful for the chance to get a copy (however slim that chance may be) via the efforts of the Tolkien Library/Tolkien Gateway, but the idea that the rest of us have to take our chances in a competition while New Yorkers can stroll into B&N & pick a couple off the shelf seems too wrong for words...