# Is "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (George Allen & Unwin, 1955) is identified by: First impression published 20 October 1955, George Allen & Unwin, 7,000 copies — the last-published of the three volumes and, at 7,000 copies, actually the largest first impression (Fellowship at 3,000 and Two Towers at 3,250 are the scarcer volumes). UK Allen & Unwin is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First impression published 20 October 1955, George Allen & Unwin, 7,000 copies — the last-published of the three volumes and, at 7,000 copies, actually the largest first impression (Fellowship at 3,000 and Two Towers at 3,250 are the scarcer volumes)
- The copyright-page verso reads 'First published in 1955' with no later-impression notice — this, not the page-49 features, is the reliable first-impression point
- One two-colour folding map, 'Gondor, Rohan and Mordor', is inserted at the rear; the dust jacket is price-present (unclipped)
- Page 49 exists in three recognised states in the early printings: State 1 (earliest) has undamaged type and NO signature '4'
- State 2 has damaged/'stepped' type and no '4'
- State 3 (latest) has the damaged type WITH the signature '4' at the foot of the page
- Correct publisher/imprint: George Allen & Unwin

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
| Year | 1955 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Comic / graphic novel |
| Key point | First impression published 20 October 1955, George Allen & Unwin, 7,000 copies — the last-published of the three volumes and, at 7,000… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First impression published 20 October 1955, George Allen & Unwin, 7,000 copies — the last-published of the three volumes and, at 7,000 copies, actually the largest first impression (Fellowship at 3,000 and Two Towers at 3,250 are the scarcer volumes). The copyright-page verso reads 'First published in 1955' with no later-impression notice — this, not the page-49 features, is the reliable first-impression point. One two-colour folding map, 'Gondor, Rohan and Mordor', is inserted at the rear; the dust jacket is price-present (unclipped). Page 49 exists in three recognised states in the early printings: State 1 (earliest) has undamaged type and NO signature '4'; State 2 has damaged/'stepped' type and no '4'; State 3 (latest) has the damaged type WITH the signature '4' at the foot of the page. Because the signature '4' carries into the second impression and the damaged type persists in all later impressions, neither page-49 feature by itself proves a first impression.

## Is this the true first?
UK Allen & Unwin is the true first. Many dealer descriptions still call the signature-'4'-with-slipped-type variant the 'first state', following Hammond & Anderson's original 1993 Descriptive Bibliography sequence (which assumed printers would have corrected the damage). Hammond reversed that priority in The Tolkien Collector, issue 11 (October 1995): the undamaged page 49 without the '4' is now accepted as the earliest state, and the '4'-plus-damage as the latest. Dealer state-numbering is inconsistent (the '4' variant is variously called '2nd' or '3rd state'), but all these states are genuine first impressions.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The page-49 type damage was never corrected: the second and all later impressions retain it, and the signature '4' was removed after the second impression. Later impressions are stated on the copyright page; the revised second edition (1965 onward) and book-club copies are distinct.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Return of the King* by J.R.R. Tolkien a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-return-of-the-king
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.