New Line Cinema did a series of hardcover press books to promote the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

The final hardcover book was a labor of love, technically not a press book, but it falls in well with this category.

This beautifully printed book was given as gifts to cast and crew members, and attendees at the final Oscar night party. I understand some may have also been given as "For Your Consideration" type gifts for some of the Oscar voters.

This is far and away the most sought after of all Lord of the Rings press memorabilia. Fans seek it for the wonderful contents.

A hardcover book, it is covered in a very matte black paper dustcover, almost like construction paper, with a gilt trimmed movie logo on it, along with the New Line Cinema logo on the back, also in gilt.

The dustcover is glued directly to the book. Ironically, I had a friend who accidentally tore hers, so she just pulled it off the book, only to discover a beautiful cover underneath, with a completely different book name. The cover underneath has the movie poster style picture of Aragorn on horseback, and has a ROTK title on it.

The pages are not numbered, but I would estimate the book at about 80 or so pages.

The unusual thing about this book is that it does not include the usual bios and production stats.  Instead, it is completely full of color photographs, big ones, small ones, double page spreads. Photos include film scenes, but lean more towards personal photos, production photos, crew photos.

Attached to each photo is a personal comment by the cast or crew member involved, relating their favorite memory during the filming, or feelings about the whole experience.

The whole book comes off feeling like a family photo album, or a high school yearbook, complete with notes from your favorite friends.

These are very difficult to find, and generally fetch in the several hundred dollar range when they can be found at all.