![[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgT-faC2Y_gBpt3IpK_4nvGVC6GsDDpolwU5rS-6Ujo5ouvuH5JGUcpoRAAt5patgsOjxpNQrOJK9yIAzPSHhYoPXWK7Ri-3RFv0mCbIqlM2Pxoy5nNbuccgXj14mNQy75iQlRC5PuyPsxEMh70tqmDdJ8veSeUFA09l7gdXfDd1zP-JMfs-klLu2nWWGef=s456)
The Silmarillion — Clowes Methuen (1977)
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The marketing, distribution, and sale of The Silmarillion in Canada was handled by GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN's (GA&U) Canadian agents, METHUEN PUBLICATIONS, of Agincourt, Ontario (within present-day Toronto). In 1977 METHUEN was part of THE CARSWELL COMPANY (as ‘CARSWELL METHUEN’), itself owned by ASSOCIATED BRITISH PUBLISHERS (ABP).[1][2]
‘Agency publishing’ (as opposed to ‘original publishing’) was a common publishing industry practise in Canada in the 1970s, a process where exclusive agents imported books from the original publisher abroad. And although METHUEN was wholly owned by the UK publishing group ABP, it—like many publisher-agents—also represented other foreign publishers; in this case GA&U.[3]
In
Descriptive Bibliography (St Paul's Bibliographies / Oak Knoll Books, 1993) Hammond
& Anderson state that in May 1977 pre-publication orders already included ‘65,000
from overseas’; and since METHUEN
had publically announced publication no later than January 1977, this undoubtedly
included (amongst other overseas markets) a sizeable order for the Canadian
market.[4] METHUEN were
reported to have ordered ‘85,000 of the first 200,000 copies printed for the
British publisher’ and were also (interestingly) in possession of ‘typesetting
film’ to print their own copies.[5] Canadian paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings (1971) and The Hobbit (1976) had already been published by METHUEN in the years immediately preceding 1977, but there is no evidence METHUEN took up the option to
print (in 1977 or later) their own Canadian hardback (or paperback) edition(s) of The
Silmarillion.
It is believed METHUEN had all of their order—based on Canadian booksellers' orders—placed with GA&U by late-May/early-June; with copies likely sent in a single shipment (date unknown) probably by air. METHUEN's total order is understood to have been 100,000 copies—perhaps, eventually, even higher (see below)—a huge quantity in respect to the Canadian market at this time. Sell-through was close to 98%; a few thousand were remaindered and sold-on to the CLASSIC BOOKSHOPS chain.[6]
To incentivise booksellers to place large orders METHUEN created a ‘special limited edition’ exclusively for the Canadian market. I refer to this as the Clowes Methuen, to differentiate this variant from other CLOWES printed copies; it is briefly referred to in Descriptive Bibliography (p. 220). Booksellers received one copy for orders placed over a specific amount, believed to be at least one-hundred copies (ordered). Not intended for sale, these non-trade copies were to be distributed in prize draws or given to ‘friends of the publisher’.
A cardboard promotional bookshop display from 1977—the content of which is quoted by Holford (TOLKIENBOOKS.NET) for his METHUEN entry (here)—states 500 copies were bound; however it is not clear if this figure can be relied upon. Another figure of 250—I have yet to identify the source of this figure—is also occasionally seen quoted by booksellers. A figure closer to 100 copies is believed to be more likely.[7] Since METHUEN only imported finished books it is very likely this variant was—as well as printed—bound in the UK; presumably by WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS (printers), prior to shipping to Canada.[8]
All copies of the Clowes Methuen variant that this writer has seen are Clowes first impressions with second state text; placing these closest to the Clowes Book Club variant—and another ‘intermediate’ second state variant—in the larger family of CLOWES printed copies. This obviously raises the question of when these books were bound, relative to the 85,000 to 100,000 standard copies—by conventional thinking Clowes First State ‘export’ copies—and whether their “special” (alternative) binding caused any delay in shipment; or whether they were shipped separately, and later. In any event, standard trade copies were on sale in Canada on publication day; and by the end of 1977 METHUEN were reporting sales of ‘more than 105,000 copies’.[9][10]
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| Title-page ‘presentation’ plate/label |
The Clowes Methuen is bound in dark-blue “leather” and stamped in gilt to the front cover with Tolkien's Lúthien Tinúviel ‘heraldic device’. A smaller version of this design is also present—as with all 1977 copies of The Silmarillion—stamped to the head of the spine. A small plate (label) is affixed to the title-page stating the book is for presentation by the publisher, METHUEN PUBLICATIONS. A second plate is also sometimes present, found affixed to the f.f.e.p. This ‘friends’ plate—in elaborate blackletter typeface—is usually present in addition to the title-page ‘presentation’ plate, and has not been noted in isolation.
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| F.f.e.p. ‘friends’ plate/label |
The covering material (binding): can it, in any meaningful sense, be referred to as leather? METHUEN never claimed this, as far as I'm aware. However, this isn't a straw-man argument; many booksellers have claimed this, and continue to do so. Several book-collectors (on the other hand) have observed a cloth-like material visible under the top surface, particularly noticeable at edges and turnovers, where wear is more prominent. Although suggestive of an entirely non-leather covering material—a buckram for example—it is also possible that this is the scrim backing to a so-called bonded-leather.
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| Covering material |
While bonded-leather should still contain leather (fibres)—and is variously defined dependent on country—there would seem to be a growing consensus (today) that it should not be sold as ‘genuine’ leather; some wish to go further and see a total prohibition on the use of the word ‘leather’ (with or without prefix/suffix) in association with non-leather products. Bonded-leather is still quite widely used in modern trade bindings, where it seems to go mostly unchallenged as a genuine leather binding. In bookbinding circles it holds little value as a material of quality, lacking some of the qualities of even a standard bookcloth.
When discussing the rather suspect quality of leather used on the 1982 Collector's Edition (here), I stated that for ‘anyone who has handled leather books... there is something noticeably amiss here’. With the Clowes Methuen everything is amiss. In the UK a definition of leather (BS 2780)—which I have seen quoted (fully), but have not read as published, hence have not formally referenced (below)—is set out in the BRITISH STANDARDS INSTITUTION's British Standard Glossary of Leather Terms (1983). By the BSI's definition, ‘bonded-leather’—accepting this as the covering material used here—is not leather.
Faux leather? Imitation leather? Maybe ‘leatherette’ or ‘leathercloth’ would be more suitable terms. I wonder what CLOWES referred to it as, in 1977. I don't know. But I think, to paraphrase Carter, the onus of proof that the Clowes Methuen is bound in full leather lies, or should lie, like an iron weight on the conscience of
anyone who, in describing this book's covering material, begins to write the word leather.[11]
In any case, an interesting and scarce 1977 incarnation of The Silmarillion.
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