On one edition of The Lord of the Rings there are black runes on gold around the top and bottom of the cover. If anyone else has this edition, do you know if the runes mean anything or not?

Of course they do. Don't know which edition you are referring to, though, but all LOTR books use the Angerthas (Cirth) runes on the covers, in contrast to Hobbit's anglo-saxon runes. None of them are there just for the show.

I don't have the book here so I could check, but I presume it reads J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. Anyway, the full edition should have an appendix on runes at the back so you can check it out and translate for yourself. ;)

The letters on my version of LOTR are Old Elvish, it is the language of Mordor. It reads:

'Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.'

Which translates to, "One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness, bind them".

Not that hard to guess they mean that ;)

FenixStrife, that's not elvish, that's in Black Speech, of Sauron's minions. Orcish as a matter of fact.

Thanks everybody, I was just wondering because I'm re-reading it right now.

Ironbeard;

I have the books on tape, produced by "The Mind's Eye". It's awesome! Having read the trilogy a few times, this fills in the gaps of my imagination a little.

Enjoy your return to Middle Earth!

TAL - On Flattop, would the "G" rune left by Gandalf be in the same language?

Angerthas, most likely, so yes.

Taluntain: yes, but if you remember, though the words were in Sauron's language, they were written with Elvish letters on the ring. :)

yep,Fljotsdale got what I was trying to say, the letters are old elven, the language is that of Mordor.

True. ;)

"Birds in their little nests agree.."! ;)

I followed your advice about the appendices. As far as I can make out, the runes on my copy read "The Lord of the Rings - Translated from the Red Book"

Aha, that's right. I expect you know what the Red Book is. In case you don't, go read the LOTR again, I won't spoil it. ;)