The Silmarillion – Leatherbound Collector’s Edition Book Replica

Description

Long preceding in its origins the histories of Middle Earth, The Silmarillion is the story of the First Age of Tolkien’s world, the ancient drama influencing the events of the Hobbit and the trilogy that follows. The title Silmarillion is shortened from Quenta Silmarillion, “The History of the Silmarils,” the three great jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves, in which he imprisoned the light of the Two Trees that illumined Valinor, the land of the gods. When Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, destroyed the Trees, that light lived on only in the Silmarils; Morgoth seized them and set them in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his people against the gods, their exile in Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all the heroisim of Elves and Men, against the great Enemy. An amazing item, perfect for collectors, this is a made-to-order, hand bound rebinding of the full Silmarillion, bound in leather and crafted in the spirit of the workings of mighty Feanor himself. Measuring 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches, weighing 3.75 pounds, and comprised of 416 pages, this book uses the illustrated Harper Collins 2004 edition. Bound in iridescent leather, with gold and silver patterning and filigree, the book has the Iron Crown of Morgoth, and the three gems of legend, the Silmarillion, bound on the cover. Each Silmaril holds the light of the Two Trees Telperion and Laurelin that illuminated Valinor before being poisoned and drained by Ungoliant. So if you’re searching all the realms of men and elves for that perfect item for your collection or for the LotR and Tolkien fan in your life, let your quest end here, and let our smiths craft you the perfect book for your collection. Please allow up to 2-3 weeks to craft and send it on its way by eagle. Review: It is GLORIOUS! - Obviously, I am an obsessive fan of Tolkien. I couldn't have purchased this otherwise. So are you, otherwise you wouldn't be here considering the purchase of a $300+ edition of the book. I won't therefore review the contents: you should already have read the Silmarillion and fully believe that it is a book worthy of the prestige treatment. If not, please go buy yourself a mass-market copy and read it as fast as you can. When you're done, and if you love the book, come back here. I'll wait. ;) Now then, if you are one of us, (and by "us" I mean, "people crazy enough to spend $329 on a prestige-edition of a book they revere") then this review is for you: Just do it. The pictures, and everything Geekify says about this book, is true. In fact, the pictures can't do it justice. The steel-blue leather they used on this is extremely high quality and just beautiful. The craftsmanship is simply Noldorin. I have a personal quest to always have the "best" available versions of the core Middle-Earth texts on my bookshelf. And I have always been dismayed that The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales never got the kind of special treatment that The Hobbit (green-leather slipcase) of the Lord of the Rings (red-leather slipcase, and later, the blue faux-leather 50th anniversary edition) received. When I stumbled on this, I was practically intoxicated. The price tag made me think twice. More than twice. But the product more than justifies it. Be advised, you would be receiving a custom, hand-crafted item - made to order! They used the 2004 Ted Nasmith-illustrated edition, which was previously my favorite version of the book, making this just the perfect edition of The Silmarillion. I want to add that Geekify were incredibly good to work with on this. The leather they had recently procured was a different shade then the one shown in the image. Rather than simply send me a book with an alternate color scheme, they got in touch with me and sent a picture of the alternate leather. It was considerably brighter and bluer - almost a turquoise - and not at all what I had hoped. The Silmarillion is a bleak tale, full of tragedy. That bright blue was out of character with the story. Whereas the steel blue shown in the thumbnail fits the mood of the book perfectly in my opinion. I asked them to hold the order until they could acquire some leather more in line with original picture, and they were happy to do so for me. They provided fairly regular updates on progress and the resulting book is beyond anything I could have hoped for. If you are on the fence about this - Just do it! Review: Product does not match the photos in the description. - I ordered the The Silmarillion - Leatherbound Collector's Edition Book Replica because the photos were dazzling and the reviews were all 5-star, and I wanted a special copy of my favorite book of all time. The photos in the product description showed a cover bound in dark green, almost black, genuine leather, with gold writing and design. It was a perfect match for the ancient tale of the Silmarillion and I was actually willing to shell out over $300 to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, what I received was quite different. The cover material was a bright, almost royal blue, and was so perfectly smooth and flawless that it made me question it's authenticity. Genuine leather is supposed to be rough, grainy, stretchy, and imperfect, and the version I received was none of those things. The writing was also silver instead of gold. The brighter colors just don't line up with the story of the Silmarillion, which is dark and full of tragedy. This may have just been a trick of the light when the original photo was taken, but it was definitely not what I expected or wanted. I reached out to the seller (Geekify) in the hopes that they'd get in touch with me to see if I could get a product that matches the original photos, but I didn't hear back from them. Which is a shame, because I am a big fan of Geekify and have had good experiences with them thus far. Now, if this were a $20 paperback none of this would matter and I'd just cut my losses and keep it, since it's still pretty nice, but since the price point here is over $300 I should certainly have received what is pictured in the photos. Hopefully Geekify will contact me and arrange a replacement, because I would really love to have this in my collection and don't mind waiting for a new copy... provided that it's the same as the product photo!