TOLKIEN, J. R. R. (1892-1973). The Lord of the Rings, London, 1962-63, 3 volumes, 8vo, maps, 3 folding, original red cloth, dust-jackets, card slipcase. FIRST EDITIONS, the thirteenth, tenth and ninth impressions respectively. (3)

TOLKIEN, J. R. R. (1892-1973).  The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1962-63. 3 volumes, 8vo (222 x 145mm). Half titles, full-page map printed in red and black in volume one, 3 folding maps, one at the end of each volume, printed in red and black, tables. Original red buckram gilt, the third volume with the title page and the previous leaf partly unopened [hence this title page not appearing among the illustrations] (narrow stain in the gutter of the upper joints to the first 2 volumes), dust-jackets (backstrips lightly browned, price-clipped), the 3 volumes contained in the publisher's original single cardboard slipcase. Provenance: John F. Nosworthy (signature to the front free endpaper of the first volume). FIRST EDITIONS, various impressions as follows: The Fellowship of the Ring (Volume One) a thirteenth impression of 1963; The Two Towers (Volume II) a tenth impression of 1963; and The Return of the King (Volume III) a ninth impression of 1962. cf. Boxall (ed.) 1001 Books p.495; Christianson & Salter 100 Books that Changed the World pp.176-177: "... The Sunday Telegraph called [The Lord of the Rings] 'among the greatest works of imaginative fiction in the twentieth century' and W. H. Auden marvelled at Tolkien's 'masterpiece', comparing it favourably to John Milton's Paradise Lost"; cf. Hammond & Anderson A5(i-iii). (3)