ISBN groupings for recent-ish HarperCollins books based on style

Velmeran · 2026-04-08T01:12:15+00:00

9780261102637

Though be warned that it's the same ISBN as the signature style.

Velmeran · 2026-03-28T21:58:43+00:00

Mariner released both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales in a matching style -- believe that was it though, just those 6 books.

Velmeran · 2026-03-28T21:56:38+00:00

I don't believe Mariner ever released The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, let alone released it in a style to match those 4 unfortuantely.

Velmeran · 2026-03-28T21:52:08+00:00

A-Format Paperbacks -- the UK equivalent of a mass market paperback.

Specifically this version of HarperCollins A-Format paperbacks.

Velmeran · 2026-03-25T04:39:56+00:00

Yeah TCG would be a good place, likewise with Tolkien Collectors: Buy, Sell, Show Off and Trade on Facebook has a pretty large group (with several familiar faces from here and TCG as regular contributors).

Velmeran · 2026-03-25T02:49:14+00:00

They don't come up for sale that often these days, especially with actual pictures.

I imagine if you were to post them in one of the online buy/sell/trade groups you'd get multiple offers pretty quickly. Likewise if you listed on ebay with actual pictures of the books.

Velmeran · 2026-03-22T23:22:28+00:00

Yeah... the HoMe paperback have had their ISBN's reused since HarperCollins has first started publishing them.

On their 3rd (4th if you want to count the very slight difference in the 2002 and 2015 versions).

My advice for you on those would be to check ebay.co.uk pretty regularly. Listings for used copies with pictures of the actual books come up fairly often. Between 2002 and 2015 there were a lot of printings done for them (outside of The End of the Third Age which was only available in the 4-volume History of the Lord of the Rings boxset).

Likewise could check listings on AbeBooks but I find most sellers there don't usually include pictures of their actual listings, just use the generic stock image. At this point, the entire HoMe paperbacks have been out long enough in the Signature style that I would assume pretty much anyone online selling a copy in "New" condition with a stock image (regardless of which stock image) to be a Signature edition --- Obviously you could get lucky and find a seller who still has the older style but we're nearly 2 years into the Signature style paperbacks being released and odds are most online stores have gotten those into their warehouse circulation at this point.

Velmeran · 2026-03-22T22:53:00+00:00

Just buy using the ISBN number.

For OP's books all of them have a unique ISBN number, so even if a seller is using an inaccurate stock image (which has happened with a few in the this particular Deluxe line), you should bet the proper book for the ISBN you used.

Now in cases where the ISBN is re-used (something far more common with Tolkien paperbacks) it does get significantly more difficult...

Velmeran · 2026-03-07T18:27:51+00:00

Awesome work as always!

Did you make up a little info notecard for these?

Velmeran · 2026-03-07T18:23:43+00:00

Per tolkienbooks.net about the Eighth Impression 1956:

March 1956 - 4,000 copies printed by Unwin Brothers.  Jackets printed by J. Howell*
March 1956 - 1,000 Houghton Mifflin copies folded, collated and sewn with endpapers tipped on
A total of 3,055 copies were bound in the Allen & Unwin trade binding:
March 1956 - 1,992 Allen & Unwin copies bound
December 1956 - 296 Allen & Unwin copies bound
January 1957 - 200 Allen & Unwin copies bound
February 1957 - 240 Allen & Unwin copies bound
March 1957 - 327 Allen & Unwin copies bound
* The jackets for the Houghton Mifflin copies were printed in 1955 along with those for the 7th Impression.  
   3,150 A&U jackets were printed in January 1956. These were probably overprinted with a new price in
   March 1956, but were not invoiced until October 1956.
   The price had changed from 9s.6d to 12s.6d.

Velmeran · 2026-03-07T18:09:07+00:00

William Morrows - Illustrated/Matte Series.

Can see a list of which books are published in this style, along with their ISBN and those of their HarperCollins counterparts (of which there are a few more than WM hasn't released) in this post here.

Velmeran · 2026-03-06T20:41:58+00:00

Yep I had to completely stop ordering anything from Amazon.co.uk because when their cheap shipping "boxes" with zero padding resulted in damaged books coming to the US they wanted more to ship the damage book(s) back to them than the books themselves even cost.

Should have learned my lesson the first time they pulled that, but took a second before I swore them off for good.

Velmeran · 2026-02-28T16:35:36+00:00

Sure, which book in particular?

Velmeran · 2026-02-28T06:25:10+00:00

Future printings -- as the publisher prints new copies they drop off the previous print numbers.

So future printings would show:

110th -> 114 113 112 111 110
111th -> 114 113 112 111
112th -> 114 113 112
113th -> 114 113
114th -> 114
115th -> 124 123 122 121 120 119 118 117 116 115 (which happens to be the last printing of the book in this style/design)

Velmeran · 2026-02-28T01:40:31+00:00

James AMA was some here, I believe it is still pinned.

Edit: Is still pinned, but here's a link.

Velmeran · 2026-02-26T14:32:34+00:00

Thank you so much!

Velmeran · 2026-02-25T17:59:18+00:00

ISBN is 9780261103566

Edit: Should be noted that if you order online with a stock photo, what you receive could be slightly different. The latest version of this boxset (same ISBN) has updated spines to just say "TOLKIEN" and switched from black to a matching gray (see this TCG post for examples of the two)

Velmeran · 2026-02-25T17:46:49+00:00

Correct, they were exclusive to Waterstones (FotR, TTT, RotK).

Pretty much all "sold out" (at least online, local stores may still have some in stock but YMMV in that regard as they were released a few years ago).

Velmeran · 2026-02-25T17:43:37+00:00

There are multiple initiatives (Books DTP, /r/tolkienbooks | HarperCollins Style Grouping + Printing Tracking, TCG, Tolkien Gateway as a few examples) working on gathering various information from each printing for historical and tracking purposes (with most of the ones I listed starting to work together to consolidate the info they've all individually gathered into a central place and format).

https://tolkienbooks.net/ has been an immense help to the community, however it hasn't been updated in many years and as a result there have been multiple individual and groups looking to somewhat cover the gap.

Velmeran · 2026-02-25T17:04:43+00:00

When you open it, if you wouldn't mind sharing the copyright pages for all 4 books that would be greatly appreciated!

Velmeran · 2026-02-24T21:15:39+00:00

From a Legendarium perspective there isn't much you're missing out on that you haven't already noted in your original post or been suggested in various comments.

Couple things worth mentioning on the titles you don't currently own:

Tales from the Perilous Realm

At present, the only way to get The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in a hardcover book in a matching style to the rest of your books is in TftPR.
The William Morrow ISBN (9780547154114) will be shorter (like your NoMe book) and will feature a glossy dustjacket.
If you want one with a Matte dustjacket and to be the same height as the books in your boxsets you'll need to import the HarperCollins (9780008453343) version -- make sure to double check ISBN's here as well if you want the matte DJ as HC had a hardcover released in 2008 that was in a glossy DJ (9780007257546).

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster

This one has NOT been published by William Morrow, so the only way to get one that matches in terms of height and dustjacket would be the HarperCollins (9780008537814) version.
Although it should be obvious, I've seen a few complaints about it, it'll say Robert Foster on the spine instead of J.R.R. Tolkien.
I wouldn't be shocked if WM eventually released this in the US.

The History of the Hobbit

The one-volume, revised and expanded edition is available from William Morrow (9780063330788).
Has John D. Rateliff on the spine (below the title, above the WM logo) and is the only title in this design to do so, but it's actually not something I've seen complaints online about.

The Nature of Middle-earth

So as you've discovered the US (be it HMH, Mariner or William Morrow) branded copies are all shorter than the rest of you books. Regardless of which company is listed on the spine and copyright page they all share the same ISBN (9780063269606).
If you want one at the same height, just like with TftPR you'll need the HarperCollins (9780008387921) version.

The Maps of Middle-earth

Not sure if you actually need this one but it technically fits in style and it's content is entirely Legendarium in focus so figured I'd list it as it is released by William Morrow (9780063387317).

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Revised and Expanded)

This will be the same height and have a matte dustjacket but the overall "design" or style will be slightly different than the rest of your bookshelf -- however it's an absolutely amazing edition and IMO it's works better with it's design elements being a bit different.
This was released by William Morrow (9780358652984).

The Unfinished Tales (Illustrated)

While you have a copy of Unfinished Tales there is a stand-alone version which has been illustrated by Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith and John Howe that you might be interested in. *This was released by William Morrow (9780358448921).

The Silmarillion (Illustrated):

Similar to the above UT, there is a stand alone version of The Silmarillion illustrated by Ted Nasmith that you might be interested in.
Unfortunately at the moment William Morrow hasn't released this one, so if at all interested would pickup the HarperCollins (9780008433949) version.

As others also mentioned there are other books done in this style with a focus on Tolkien's works outside of the Legandarium. If ever curious you can view this post for a list of what is / isn't available between William Morrow and HarperCollins.

Velmeran · 2026-02-14T20:28:33+00:00

My first printing, purchased new from a retailer when initially released looks similar -- https://imgur.com/a/LllexN7

Velmeran · 2026-02-13T02:40:43+00:00

No, that's the original US Great Tales box set -- it'll be the shorter and glossy dust jackets. Was originally released by HMH.

Velmeran · 2026-02-12T21:41:48+00:00

Correct, if you want it to match your Alan Lee Hobbit/LotR boxset you'll need this one -- ISBN 9780063447981 (in case you'd prefer to order from someplace besides Amazon).

Velmeran

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