Beloved LOTR books are disintegrating!

[SweetSilver]

Help me choose a new, hardback edition.  What are your recent favorites?

I am so bummed!  My mother's 1974 paperback edition is falling apart while I'm reading it to my daughter.  I can't count how many times I have read this set and am thrilled that I've gotten to read it to her.  We are reading "Scouring of the Shire" and every page is literally falling out as I turn it.

I would prefer an edition with Tolkien's own pictures, or even none at all, but I want to hear your recommendations.  I know my daughter would love pictures.

[hildare]

the harper collins anniversary editions (50th for the lotr and 70th for the hobbit) are pretty, they have the original dust jacket designs that didn't get used, fold out maps, the works.  you can buy the trilogy in a box set and the hobbit edition matches but doesn't come with. 

[SweetSilver]

Thanks, that actually sounds perfect.  We have one more chapter left, and we are finishing none too soon.

[Arduinna]

The main drawback of the anniversary edition of LOTR, which I do own is that it's extremely heavy and as such difficult to read from in many positions compared to the paperbacks which was how I first read the books. This isn't as much of a problem with Hobbit as it's so much shorter. I'd probably go with the Alan Lee hardcover boxed set, since it includes the drawings but each book is printed individually and so it's easier to hold and share. In fact I'm considering buying it for that reason

[SweetSilver]

I just looked at that set, and even separate the books are a bit heavy.  I'm almost leaning towards another paperback set, but I'm not done looking.  Yesterday while looking at one bookstore I found a graphic novel version of The Hobbit, used.  I am thrilled.  I've read the original 3 times to my daughter by her request and she is just beginning to read.  (She is lucky I am such a Tolkien fan.)  She loves word bubbles, like in comic strips and graphic novels.  We critiqued the drawings, and how they fit our idea of the characters (very good, mostly).  I think I'm not as fond of Alan Lee's character drawings.  Great scenery, but his hobbits are a bit grim.  But then, I grew up with the Hildebrandt Brothers and the original animated LOTR.