The Silmarillion — Taiwan Edition (1977)

In Wayne G. Hammond and Douglas A. Anderson's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography (St Paul's Bibliographies / Oak Knoll Books, 1993), under ‘First edition (British), domestic copies (1977)’ (A15b), it is stated that The Silmarillion was:

 

‘Also published by Bookcase Shop, Taiwan, November 1977, authorized by Allen & Unwin, with altered copyright page, bound in tan cloth over boards, with a dust-jacket similar to the one for A15a–b.’

 

It is common, elsewhere, to see this edition referred to as ‘pirated’ or a ‘pirate edition’; there are similar Taiwanese editions—which I will not cover here—of The Hobbit (1972) and The Lord of the Rings (1972). 

 

Although encountered fairly infrequently, old images (of all of these editions) can be found easily enough online; but bibliographical information, Hammond & Anderson aside, is practically nonexistent. The aim of this post is to pull together what I know about the Taiwan edition(s) of The Silmarillion, to discuss examples of variants I have collected, and perhaps stimulate others to pursue some of the loose threads here presented.

 

In A Bibliography of Robertson Davies (University of Toronto Press, 2014), under the entry for Davies' 1970 novel Fifth Business (1970), there is a variant labelled ‘A38b.2 Taiwanese issue, piracy [1971 or 1972]’. A friend of Davies had visited China and brought back a copy of the pirated novel. Davies had the copyright-page translated and a formal complaint was made to the Taiwanese government for violation of copyright. In the end nothing, legally, could be done about the piracy. 

 

The Davies example is clearly not unique. A good introductory overview of the ‘industrial-scale’ book piracy of 1950–60s Taiwan can be found in Hugh L. Stephens' 2016 blogpost From the Pirate Booksellers of Chungking Street to Taiwan Today (Taiwan Blog #1). The pertinent point Stephens makes is that it was perfectly legal ‘according to Chinese domestic law’ to produce and sell ‘reprint editions of standard western works’ in Taiwan; and this included popular works of fiction, like The Silmarillion, published as late as 1977. The People's Republic of China acceded to the Berne Convention in 1992.

 

More recently, the INDEPENDENT ONLINE BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION (IOBA) thought it useful to write an article to help booksellers identify pirated books. The article, Comparing an American First Edition to the Taiwan "Pirate" Edition (2021), provides a visual comparison between a Taiwanese edition of Our Lady of the Flowers (by Jean Genet) and the original US edition published by GROVE PRESS (1963). To anyone who has handled any of the aforementioned Tolkien Taiwanese editions, much of this will look familiar.

 

What do the books themselves tell us? 

 

 

Firstly, there would appear to be two separate Taiwanese publishers, therefore two separate editions. One edition—published by BOOKCASE SHOP (noted by Hammond & Anderson)—is derived from the sheets of the UK ‘domestic’ edition, published by GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN (GA&U). A second (separate) Taiwanese edition—published by HUANG JIA BOOK CO. (but not noted by Hammond & Anderson)—is derived from the sheets of the US edition, which was published by HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (HMCO). On the face of it, the edition published by BOOKCASE SHOP appears to be—it claims to be—authorised; the edition published by HUANG JIA BOOK CO. makes no such claim. I believe it accurate to describe these as two separate ‘editions’, rather than simply different ‘variants’. Several binding variants, of both editions, do exist.

 

Zhong Shan copyright-page detail

 

The copyright-page of the Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition—i.e. the ‘Bookcase Shop’ edition (but see naming rationale below)—is written in both Traditional Chinese and English. The top of the copyright-page retains GA&U's original copyright notice; Hammond & Anderson's ‘altered’ (not new) copyright-page. Ironically this draws attention to the Berne Convention, which (as already discussed) did not apply to Taiwan publishers at this time. Following this is an explicit statement (in English) that this edition has been authorised by GA&U and is reprinted with their permission. It is stated to be a first printing, November 1977. I have seen no evidence of the existence of later impressions i.e. of this edition being reprinted. Basic publisher information, in English, states the publisher to be ‘Bookcase Shop, Ltd.’, of 99, Chungshan N[orth] Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei.

 

The Traditional Chinese that follows gives more detailed publishing and printing information. The publisher is stated to be ZHONG SHAN BOOK CO. (same address as above), the owner Zhou Zheng; the book was printed by SHENG CHANG PRINTING CO. It is stated to be a Taiwanese ‘first edition’, with ‘copyright reserved’ and ‘no reproduction permitted’. It is interesting to note that the Chinese publisher's name is entirely unrelated to the English one. It has been suggested to me that as the name Zhong Shan (‘named after a well-known mountain’) would have been little known outside of Taiwan or China, a ‘catchy’ second name was probably desired. I have chosen to use the Chinese name for naming consistency.

 

Huang Jia copyright-page detail

 

The copyright-page of the Taiwan Huang Jia Edition is almost entirely written in Traditional Chinese, aside from a few words in English to the top. The publisher is stated to be HUANG JIA BOOK CO., of 615, Linsen North Road, Taipei; the owner Chen Minghui. The ‘exclusive’ distributor is stated to be LIN KOU BOOK COMPANY; no printer is given.

 

An overview of observed binding variants.

Zhong Shan (Tan Binding Variant)

 

Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition (Tan Binding Variant). Hammond & Anderson's ‘tan cloth over boards’; authorised edition based on the ‘First edition (British), domestic copies (1977)’ i.e. GA&U sheets. First edition, first impression (‘printing’), November 1977. Case-binding, tan cloth-covered boards, top page-edge not dyed, pale-blue/white striped head/tail-bands, pp. [1–2] 3–365 [366]. Third state (text), both Fëanor (p. 330) and Ulmo (p. 352) errors corrected. Realms map p. [120+1] recto ([120+2] verso blank), foldout Beleriand map affixed to recto r.f.e.p.; maps printed in black and red. UK ‘£4.95’ priced dustjacket. [Personal copy S.083.]

 

Zhong Shan (Sage Binding Variant)

 

Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition (Sage Binding Variant). Not noted by Hammond & Anderson; authorised edition based on the ‘First edition (British), domestic copies (1977)’ i.e. GA&U sheets. Sage cloth-covered boards, otherwise identical to Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition (Tan Binding Variant). [Personal copies S.048 (copyright-page excised), S.105.]

 

Zhong Shan cloth bindings

 

The difference in cloth colour between the two Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition binding variants is very clear with the books in-hand, but does not render particularly well on screen. The image above hopefully shows the difference more clearly.

 

Huang Jia (Red/Black Binding Variant)

 

Taiwan Huang Jia Edition (Red/Black Binding Variant). Not noted by Hammond & Anderson, but based on their ‘First edition (American, 1977)’ (A15c) i.e. HMCO sheets; unauthorised. First edition, first impression (‘printing’). Case-binding, red paper-covered boards with black lettering, top page-edge not dyed, red/yellow striped head/tail-bands, pp. 1–365 [366]. First US state (text). US ‘$10.95’ priced dustjacket. [Personal copy S.128.] 

 

                               Huang Jia (Red/Gold Binding Variant)

 

Taiwan Huang Jia Edition (Red/Gold Binding Variant). Not noted by Hammond & Anderson, but based on their ‘First edition (American, 1977)’ (A15c) i.e. HMCO sheets; unauthorised. Red paper-covered boards with gold foil lettering, otherwise identical to Taiwan Huang Jia Edition (Red/Black Binding Variant). [Personal copy S.085 (lacks dustjacket).]

 

Huang Jia (Black/Gold Binding Variant)

 

Taiwan Huang Jia Edition (Black/Gold Binding Variant). Not noted by Hammond & Anderson, but based on their ‘First edition (American, 1977)’ (A15c) i.e. HMCO sheets; unauthorised. Black paper-covered boards with gold foil lettering, otherwise identical to Taiwan Huang Jia Edition (Red/Black Binding Variant). [Personal copy S.153.]

 

Huang Jia bindings

 

The reduced size of both Taiwanese editions—not obvious from images shown so far—is more readily shown by visual comparison with a standard 1977 GA&U trade edition; in this case a BILLING & SONS copy. 

 

The Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition is 210–211mm in height, the Taiwan Huang Jia Edition a few millimetres shorter at 207mm; the BILLING copy (shown) is noticeably taller, at 229mm. As can be seen, both Taiwanese editions are also significantly thinner due to the thickness of paper used. The paper is often described—framed within a conventional ‘pirated’ books stereotype—as of poor quality, but it does not strike me as particularly inferior. Transparency and print quality are certainly an issue though. 

 

Where do these editions sit in the larger family of first edition variants?

 

It seems reasonable to suggest that neither Taiwanese publisher had a close working relationship with their UK or US counterpart. It is unlikely, for example, that GA&U provided ZHONG SHAN BOOK CO. with repro-proofs (or similar) in which to produce their own edition; the quality of both Taiwanese editions—and the almost certain unauthorised nature of the US derived edition—simply does not support this, although it is possible. It is also unclear whether the claimed arrangement the ZHONG SHAN BOOK CO. had with GA&U extended to paying royalties; it seems unlikely, although I have no evidence to support this. It would certainly be interesting to establish.

 

What is more likely, is that the Taiwanese publisher(s) had a copy of The Silmarillion shipped (or flown) to them; this copy of the book was then physically disassembled and each page photographed; printing plates were then made using these photographic images (or negatives) and the pages then printed (probably by offset). The texts are photographically reduced, but not reset; the dustjackets were similarly copied and reduced.

 

The question of what actual copy (or variant) of The Silmarillion both Taiwanese publishers were working with, is open to speculation. To deal with the US derived Taiwan Huang Jia Edition first—since I am far less familiar with the correction of typographical changes across HMCO impressions/variants—it is clear that this Taiwanese edition was prepared from a copy of the first impression of the US edition. The Taiwan Huang Jia Edition contains all points noted by Hammond & Anderson (p. 222), including Father (for Farmer) known to have been corrected for the second impression; see also TOLKIENBOOKS.US The Silmarillion (1977).

 

The Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition is a little more complicated. Hammond & Anderson list the ‘Bookcase Shop’ edition under ‘First edition (British), domestic copies (1977)’, published by GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN (GA&U), and stated to be printed by BILLING & SONS. Four printers are mentioned and discussed by Hammond & Anderson, but only WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS—under the British ‘export’ entry (A15a)—and BILLING & SONS are mentioned by name in bibliographical description. Since the ‘Bookcase Shop’ Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition is not a textual first state, it does not feel entirely accurate to have this edition listed under the ‘domestic’ A15b entry in Descriptive Bibliography. (To be fair, Descriptive Bibliography does not attempt, or make any claim, to record the bibliographical detail of later impressions or variant states; and having made the decision to note the existence of a Taiwan edition, it had to be recorded somewhere.) But if the source copy for the Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition was a copy of The Silmarillion printed by BILLING, then it must have derived, not from a Billing First State copy, but from a Billing Third State copy; contemporaneous, from a printing perspective, with the Clowes Second Impression, and the Unwin Brothers Fifth Impression and Unwin Brothers Book Club variants—all third state (text) variants, all having the same errors present (or corrected).

 

An interesting 1977 variant of The Silmarillion; foreign, certainly, but inextricably linked to the UK ‘domestic’ first edition. It is nearly twenty years ago now (2007) that I first picked up a Taiwan edition; years have passed, more copies have been acquired, copyright-page details I better understand. But that's about all I have. Perhaps there are more binding variants out there? There are possibly further variations, in the copies I have described, that I have not noticed. Perhaps the Taiwan Zhong Shan Edition went into another impression(s)?

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Copyright page translations by Yingbo Zhang (also known to English-speaking collectors as ‘Lawrence’); used with permission. I am also indebted to Zhang for providing additional interpretation and context.

 

Also on SILMARILLION MINUTIAE

❆ The Silmarillion — Clowes Book Club (1977)

❆ The Silmarillion — Clowes Dummy (1977)

❆ The Silmarillion — Clowes Methuen (1977)

❆ The Silmarillion — Collector's Edition (1982)