I think I have the version. Except my FotR no longer has a cover... I'm a violent reader. It's Unwin publication, me thinks. And I have a feeling the cover art was done by Tolkien himself... maybe.

I'm a bit young to have been really into LotR before the movies came out, and definately before they were being made, but I was in love with the hobbit for a while before them.
I first read it when I was about 8, I think. Before I'd even considered LotR movies, anyways. I read it really quickly, my motivation being that I wanted to finish it before we went to see a stage production of it. I think that was actually the first professional stage thing I'd been to. I don't remember much, except the dwarves were short, smaug was cool and the elves were just a bit creepy.
So that was when I first got into LotR. I read FotR and half of TTT over the next few years. I also remember re-reading the Hobbit in about yr 5, as a book you read and discussed at school. It really wasn't a big thing, and only one or two others had heard of it.
Then come yr 6 and the release of the movies and, although many people were still going "J.R.R who?", most people knew what a hobbit was, and thought that Legolas was entirely hot. I actually didn't see the FotR movie until about 8 or 9 months after its release. Stupid parents said I couldn't go see it in the cinemas because me and my older brother were always doing things that my younger one wasnt, and it wasn't fair if we both saw it and he didn't! So I'm never seen FotR in the cinemas. Grrr.

What was really annoying for someone who had only read the books and not seen the movies, was people talking about characters and plots and leaving bits out or making assumptions. And then I'd say something and everyone would be like 'No, that's not right! Gandalf is dead!". Ignorant fools.

the unwin ones where the best.they had such a good size too.

_________________
proud to be a pipe smoker like JJRT

They are, aren't they. Never really thought of that, but I've always been able to fit my LotR in my bag, when nothing else will, lol. And they, well, my copy at least, opens easily. You know how some books don't open properly, and you can't read the very end of the line easy?

You're soo lucky. I wish I had one of the old editions.. that would be so awesome

_________________
[!+~^$#&:;]

they still have them up at a second hand shop in london,last time i was there.

_________________
proud to be a pipe smoker like JJRT

Oh of course I do. I remember discussing with fellow LotR fans how the new movies would be, what changes would be made, what the rating would be if they did the Barrow Downs and the Orc tower to the full discription Tolkien makes (rmeember? Frodo doesn't wear anything) or if they'd just nod at it or what.
I remember reading the book through with the family in the summertime in the evenings, and sometimes after lunch. The entire family, Dad, Mom, Arsarniel, and myself would stay in our chairs after supper and either Dad or Mom would pick up whichever book we were in and read. I always liked it when Mom read, because she never tried to skip over the landscape descriptions. Dad hated those and wanted to get to the action
Another memory is acting LotR out with some friends (a couple are A-U members, greenstorm and Rodwen) at their place in the country. We'd get a copy of the book out, read over a section or two to make sure we were right how it went, and play it out. They had access to several acres of field etc. so it was great. Their two black colored puppies made the BEST Nazgul in the dark of night--it was REALLY hard to escape those hounds!

Those were fun days.

_________________
Starting October 13th: globe trotting from my kitchen. Follow along on Cook In Fifty-Two

I don't think I own that exact edition, but the trilogy my Dad has is from a 1965 printing. They've got all this bright red, blue, green, and yellow coloured drawings on them that are nothing like Alan Lee's.

Ive got a 15th impression (1975) The cover illustrations are by Pauline Baynes. Its cute artwork, but its not overly aweinspiring. Gollum is on the front cover, tiny in the corner, he's a little purple hairy looking thing, looks more lke a fuzzy cute dog.

I like the old books, they just have this flopping open manner that is so easy to read, I feel so guilty if I break a new books spine.

Could you imagine what it would have been like reading the LOTR all those years ago, waiting for TTT and ROTK to be released

_________________
We're one world, one people weather we like it or not.. we can pretend we're divided into races and countries.. But the reality is that it is one world and it is one people.

I wonder if it was like how Harry Potter is today with all of us waiting for the next to be released. That's mental... I really can't imagine that...

Wow, I'm so jealous...mine are still new compared to yours, I got them as a present three or four years ago, and they were brand new then. They're really beat-up now though! With little scribbles in the margins and everything

_________________

Lol! Mine were falling apart when I got them and they smelled like our attic. Now they are completely beat up, as I've highlighted passages and scribbled noted in the margins. I even had to tape the cover back on FotR because it had come off.

It'd be even worse with LotR, though, because they go directly into the next book without even skipping a line or recapping!

Unfortunately I'm far too young to remember any pre-movie times. My parents got sort of interested when they heard that a movie was being made and they bought a copy of the trilogy and the Hobbit but *gasp* disliked it because they thought it was a too dark a book and probably never even thought about reading it to their little 7-8 year old child! They did recommend the Hobbit to me, but the goblins scared me so I stopped reading it. My taste in books was definitely different back then, too. I was into happy, cute little animal rescue stories.

_________________

i fund harry potty boring and did not bother with the rest of the books or movies.i can still remember reading the two towers in around 1983 one sunny afternoon and thinking i love this day,its the best day of all.it still is.

_________________
proud to be a pipe smoker like JJRT

yup i saw that one too!! gandalf and frodo looked pretty much ok. and i would have gone mental if i had to wait for the RotK to come out. i didnt have the book when i finished reading TT and went semi-crazy.
i was kinda introduced to the hobbit back in year six but i didnt feel like reading it. and back there, there werent any public libraries and the only library i knew was in my school which wasnt all that big. so basically nope. i knew nothing about LotR until after the movies.
(btw i think War of the Rings would have been a better title. thats wat Tolkien origionally wanted anyway)

my mother wanted me to read the hobbit as soon as she could.there was a radio series on radio 4 which is really good.ian holm played frodo baggines on it.

_________________
proud to be a pipe smoker like JJRT

I do remember before the movies. I read the Hobbit before hand, and grew up on talk of them, though I didn't read the books until the movies were out (I had to read the books before I could see the movies).

The first copies of LotR I read were my dad's versions from college. The pages are yellowed, and the cover illustrations are... interesting. Bag End is on Fellowship, Fangorn I think is on TTT, and then... I don't remember what's on RotK, because I took the books absolutely everywhere with me and they were already old and the cover came off.

My two older siblings and I adored those ancient copies of LotR, even after we all got our own (mine are movie covers). So my dad gave them to us. I got FotR, my brother got TTT, and my sister got RotK. Those books are incredibly special to us. My old FotR has Frodo's journey marked out on the map in the back; my dad did that 25 years ago, as a college student. Talk about sentimental value!

_________________
<center>-In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song-

^JF is awesome

There will come a time with no more tears
and love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears</center>