Super Deluxe COH announced

[Child of the 7th Age]

Child of the 7th Age - I do not live anywhere near New York. On the day they announced the sale of the signed books I simply made a post on a site where Tolkien collectors gather offering to pay for someone elses book if they would be good enough to buy one for me. Two people responded. I made a deal with one. And that is how I obtained my signed COH.

Sauron--

Then I applaud your foresight and resourcefulness! I did contact a UK bookstore and ordered an edition signed by Lee for a very reasonable price.

Davem --

Yes, it would be possible to find a friend overseas and use that address if someone wanted a book. My concern wasn't so much that the purchase of the books was restricted by geography. The problem was communication. Everyone who signed up on the site received emails relating to the purchase of the book without any mention of geographical restrictions. On a personal level, the question is academic since 350 pounds is way above my budget!

[davem]

From the Harper Collins site:

International Orders

For international orders please contact info@store.tolkien.co.uk with details of the product(s) you wish to purchase, your delivery address and a contact phone number or email. A customer service representative will contact you to notify you of availability and international delivery charges. Any Order placed with a customer services representative will be subject to the terms and conditions contained on this website (the 'Terms and Conditions'). By emailing info@store.tolkien.co.uk you will be deemed to have accepted that the Terms and Conditions will apply to any Order.

We regret to say that we are unable to sell the book to customers in the USA as we do not have the publishing rights for that territory.

So, apparently its the fact that Houghton Mifflin own the US publishing rights that means its only going to be unavailable in the US.

[davem]

Found this via the Tolkien.co.uk forum http://cgi.ebay.com/TOLKIEN-CHILDREN...QQcmdZViewItem

Being offered at £475 (or 'approximately $972') & its not even in the seller's hands yet...

[davem]

Just noticed this over on the Tolkien.co.uk forum:

Dear Tolkien Community Members,

Since we opened the Tolkien shop yesterday morning, the phenomenal demand for the book outside the UK that has come in over the last 24 hours has shown us that we hadn't planned properly for this exciting new offer. We knew that the support for J.R.R. Tolkien amongst his fans was huge: but it's bigger even than we had gauged, and we now want to give as many of you as we can the chance to buy the book. So, from this point on, the great news is that the book is now on sale across the globe, and details on how to buy it are below.

For fans throughout the rest of the world, we'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise for not having resolved the detail beforehand of how we might sell this special limited edition to you. We simply weren't ready for the overwhelming response to this book - we will be in future, and we are listening to your justifiable concerns. We hope by taking this step we have shown we want to work with the Tolkien community in our publishing.

Unfortunately, the one exception to this is that we are legally restricted from selling copies to residents of the United States. The rights to sell all Tolkien's works in the States are not owned by us, and for us to sell books to his American readers is something we're just unable to do.

If you do want to get your hands on this book, you can email us at info@store.tolkien.co.uk . If you can supply us with the quantity of each of our three products you want, your delivery address and, if you would prefer us to take your order by phone, a contact telephone number, one of our customer services representatives will contact you asap within UK working hours to take your order.

Once again, we're really sorry for any frustration this may have caused, and hope this helps to put things right.

Thanks
Simon Rhodes-Johnson
Executive Business Manager
HarperCollins Publishers

What could be intended by "We simply weren't ready for the overwhelming response to this book - we will be in future, and we are listening to your justifiable concerns."?

Could this reference to 'the future' imply that there are more of these 'super-deluxe' editions to come - a LotR, Hobbit & Sil perhaps?

[Sir Kohran]

Originally Posted by davem

Just noticed this over on the Tolkien.co.uk forum:


What could be intended by "We simply weren't ready for the overwhelming response to this book - we will be in future, and we are listening to your justifiable concerns."?

Could this reference to 'the future' imply that there are more of these 'super-deluxe' editions to come - a LotR, Hobbit & Sil perhaps?

It wouldn't surprise me. There's a 'special edition' of pretty much anything successful these days.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Sir Kohran

It wouldn't surprise me. There's a 'special edition' of pretty much anything successful these days.

It did occur to me (& I mentioned this on another forum) that even if we assume that the overall cost to Harper Collins of materials, production, shipping & the like were to come to, say, £150 (it won't - nowhere near - but let's be generous) they would clear (£200x500 copies) £100,000. One hundred thousand pounds on this edition of CoH.

You'll also find on the 'Contact Us' page that the address to write to is "Tolkien Limited Editions" - note the plural.

Of course, this would be good news for anyone buying this one as an investment - however much a one off limited edition will appreciate in value, one that's part of a limited edition series will appreciate even more.....

[Sauron the White]

The publishers, which deal with the approval of the Tolkien Estate, should be given some type of award at being the worlds best in squeezing every last dime out of material that has been seen over and over again and paid for over and over again.

Paul Simon wrote and sang "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover". These folks should adopt as their motto "Fifty Ways to sell you the same product over and over and over again".

I see where the 2008 Tolkien Calendar will feature SIL paintings by one of my favorite illustrators - Ted Naismith. Sadly, every painting will be taken from a book which has sat on our shelves for some time now. No new paintings were commissioned. Why spend money when you have a press in the basement ready to turn out newly minted bills at your whim?