A deluxe, $325 Lord of the Rings book boxset is coming

Amazon is about to spring the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on us, and everyone is lining up to cash in. Not that there's ever a bad time to debut a new piece of The Lord of the Rings merch what with the series being consistently popular since the 1950s and all, but expect an uptick in all things Middle-earth in the near future.

We can start with this: in a couple months, the world will release onto us The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set, a binding of all three books in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy series — The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King — priced at $325. Why does a trio of books run that much? Here's what you're getting:

• Hardcover editions of all three books bounds in cloth and leather, with original covers and silver foil typescript on the blue spines.
• Illustrations by Alan Lee, who has contributed to many J.R.R. Tolkien books over the years as well as to Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

• In fact, this "revised and expanded" boxset contains over 50 brand-new pencil drawings and paintings from Lee, spread throughout the three books. The set clocks in at 1,332 pages, which according to Gamespot makes it the longest Lord of the Rings boxset currently in print.
• A decorative slipcase inside of which you'll find three removeable art cards and two foldout maps of Middle-earth, each originally drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher, who devoted his career to his father's work after Tolkien's death in 1973.

$325 is a lot for a boxset of three books, but these are three of the most popular books around, and it looks like the boxset treats them right. You can preorder The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set now, although it won't ship until October 1. In the meantime, the second season of The Rings of Power, which is set thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings proper, premieres on Amazon Prime Video on August 29.

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