My dear melon Geek, only you could have told this tale as you have. What a wonderful beginning to the New Year! I have that paragraph you read in one of the editions around my house, and it was in the very first Ballantine edition that my brothers and I purchased. It was in 1971, after I read The Hobbit to my brothers, that we scraped together our change--it was 95 cents per volume, got a money order, and mail ordered The LOTR direct from Ballantine. That was the edition with the funny artwork that was a continuous picture spanning all three volumes. Those were the "elder days" when I developed voices for all the characters, long before any actors were cast in those roles. Your story about the rogue Ace edition brings back so many memories for me, my good Geek! Keep up the good work. Namarie.

Thanks for this. I always wondered what the details were of the Ace/Pirate story. I was a teenager then, had some friends that were discovering Tolkien, and the Ballantine paperbacks were in the bookstores. You couldn't miss the blurbs about "only authorized version" on the strange-looking covers. I don't recall seeing the Ace version in stores but do recall you could send away for them. I read those Ballantine's several times and regret I no longer have them. All good memories.

To clarify the 'loophole' issue; When Allen & Unwin published LotR they didn't expect it to sell well. Indeed, they insisted on splitting it into three volumes in part because they were expecting the first to tank and that then being grounds to limit prints of the subsequent volumes to minimize their losses. As a result, they only contracted to print 1,500 copies in the United States. Of course, as it turned out, the book was an immediate success and they massively ramped up their printing schedule for all three volumes... in the UK. The tiny 1,500 copy run in the US ran out almost immediately... so A&U decided, 'oh no problem we'll just ship copies we printed in the UK over and sell them in the US. Extra cost on the shipping, but this thing is selling so well that it will still be worth it.' Unfortunately, there was a fairly obscure protectionist provision in the US copyright act of 1909 which essentially banned foreign printed books from being sold in the US except in extremely limited amounts. The copies of LotR A&U shipped over violated that provision and thus ARGUABLY placed the entire work outside of copyright protection in the US. That is... until the 2012 SCOTUS case of Golan v Holder held that past provisions of US copyright law which did not comply with international standards (i.e. various exceptions like this that allowed US companies to bypass foreign copyrights) were retroactively invalid. Basically, the US had sorta kinda 'pinky swear' agreed to comply with international standards and various treaties were being worked out to standardize all the rules... but at the same time lawmakers were putting these sneaky little 'gotcha' provisions in US law that allowed US companies to ignore copyrights granted elsewhere. Decades later SCOTUS said, yeah that wasn't kosher... those foreign works are still protected by copyright. As to whether LotR would have been SUCH a smash success without the unauthorized ACE edition. I doubt it would have made much difference. The paperback format was just coming into widespread adoption at that time, and LotR in hardcover was the hottest thing around. The Hobbit had already been published in paperback format (4 years before the ACE printings of LotR), and with the huge sales figures it was only a matter of time before LotR would have been as well... ACE jumpstarted the process by maybe a year at most and generated additional publicity, but the end result would likely have been much the same.

The discussion of authorship and personal identity is fascinating. Tolkien really was a multifaceted genius.

There is a very good article on this in the J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide by Scull & Hammond, Readers Guide "Ace Books controversy"

Thank you. I had often wondered about the remarks about "courtesy to living authors" etc., at the end of the preface. Now I have the explanation.

16:06 _"while I am still alive"_ Note, he doesn't mention 70 years on top of that.

My understanding is that Tolkein refused to release his books in paperback. Ony After Ace had shown how popular it was did he change his mind and decide to publish in paperback. While not nice, they at least helped Tolkein to change his mind and introduce his stories when he officially released paperbacks later on.

You think this is wild, check out the Russian book version of the Lord of the Rings, you just have to be able to read Russian. That's all.

I would really enjoy a co op video with Heart of a Halfling.

These were the editions I first read as a kid, I hope they’re still in a box somewhere.

Speaking of Tolkien and copyright. If I'm not mistaken in my understanding of copyrights....as of this year, in every country where copyrights expire 50 years after the author's death (which is most of Asia and Africa and New Zealand as well) Tolkien's works have now entered the public domain!

"What's the rumpus?"--Gabriel Byrne, "Miller's Crossing"

Maybe if Tolkien had more time he would have spend it working on the Oxford Dictionary or even just spent more time with his family or even on traveling. I just don't think he would have spent it all on finishing as much of The Silmarillion as we would like him to have done. The dude had a lot on his plate.

I’ve read that Tolkien did not want his books published in paperback, which from a commercial viewpoint was complete idiocy - it relegated him to obscurity since very few people bought hardbacks back in the 50s and 60s. Mass market paperbacks completely dominated publishing back then, and it was only after the success of the Ace books that he decided to sell the paperback rights to Ballantine. So if not for Ace, Tolkien would not have had the success that he had.

Tolkien apparently hated the idea of paperback books, so he didn't want Lord of the rings as a paperback. With the books being published by Ace books, he was kind of forced to get it published as a paperback.

It's fun to hear about this. I have a copy of the Ace "Fellowship of the Ring." Ace was a well known low-budget pulp paperback publisher in the 50s and 60s. They are probably best known today as the publishers of the first paperback-original edition of William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novel "Junky" (or "Junkie.") It's incredibly odd to me that two such utterly opposed men and writers should have been published by the same house.

2024 is the when all Tolkien's works became public domain in life + 50 years countries (he passed away in 1973) like New Zealand and South Africa.

Fascinating story and charming footnote to Tolkien, great work

I remember seeing this edition for sale in some book store(s) when I was much younger; I recognize the covers. It might well have been a used book store though. But this tale is a new one on me.

I've only ever seen the Ace Edition of the Fellowship of the Ring. I've never seen the entire boxed set. I have a copy of the Ace Edition of the Fellowship (and once found a copy of it in my school library in high school back in the 80s).

I read the the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings in the early 70's too I think. I was in fifth grade when my uncle bought me the Hobbit, after that I was hooked. I don't remember the publisher, but my first copies were paperbacks, definitely not Ace. I looked them up on the internet. probably Ballantine. Thank you for the memories!

Wow, excellent gift. Those box sets go for big bucks. Well, big for the average blue collar collector like myself. Enjoy. Namarie.

JRRT was able to convey a very harsh rebuke while being very polite. See his letter to his German publisher.

The U. of KY's Science Fiction collection has a copy of the Ace edition.

Thank you for this very enjoyable video. All's well that ends better.🤪

8:22 I think from the pov of the then copyright law from 1909, Tolkien was wrong about US law. He saw the affair in a lense of British jurisprudence. One which later, 1976, became US jurisprudence as well (well, Jan 1 1978).

Wasn't the Ballantine mass mkt paperback out too? Heck, I bought the Ace version as a teenager because it was cheaper and I had about two dollars in my pocket at any given time. I didn't know anything about copyright disputes. I was just a kid who really wanted to own and read the books.

The sad part to me is that Ace publishing is only about 30 percent bolder than half of the fantasy writers to come.

Because of these *people*, we didn't get a finalized Simarillion, finished poem of Beren and Luthien, updated Fall of Gondolin, and who knows, maybe even 4th Age or Tal Elmar. JRRT wasn't a rich man, imagine how much he could've done if he could work on the things he loved instead of grading student papers Thieves, thieves, thieves! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!

Corsairs of Ace-bar?

I learned about this edition and the boycott campaign from the Ringers documentary. I'd later find the Ace Return of the King at a used book store. I hope I can find the rest later.

Hm. This is the American * translation * of LOTR rite.

Copyright stuff is a hot subject right now. Mickey Mouse recently became public domain.

Fun with collecting.

What do you think the cover of those Ace books? They're over the top imo.

1:39 Could the loop hole be, US didn't have a Copyright law? I look up: *Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17)* This publication contains the text of Title 17 of the United States Code, including all amendments enacted by Congress through December 23, 2022. It includes the Copyright Act of 1976 and all subsequent amendments to copyright law; the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, as amended; and the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, as amended. The Copyright Office is responsible for registering intellectual property claims under all three. In other words -- Romans 4:15.

First.