The Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien first edition 1977

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1977
 
8vo., blue publisher’s cloth, backstrip lettered and decorated in gilt; in the original pictorial dust jacket with emblems design by Tolkien; upper edge blue; pp. [vi], 7-365, [ii] complete with folding colour map to rear; five diagrams within the text; spine tips lightly pushed, upper edge a trifle dust-soiled; jacket marginally toned and sunned along spine, with light creasing; very good. 
 
First edition, this the domestic issue with the price printed to the front flap (unclipped). Hammond identifies a second issue, intended for export, in which the jacket is left unpriced. 
 
The Silmarillion was left unfinished when Tolkien passed away at the age of 81, and so was edited from selected materials and published by his son, Christopher, just four years later. True to his usual style, it is a complex work, divided into five parts, which tells the story of middle earth’s ancient history, from the creation of Eä (the world that is), and concluding with an essay on the Rings of Power.