Help me buy Tolkein books

[James]

OK, here's my problem; There are a lot of fucking books for Tolkein's Middle Earth books. Meaning, there are various publications for the same stories.

So I'm really confused here. What should I be looking for when it comes to buying these books? What should I avoid? Is there really any difference between these books, and I just get whichever ones look the prettiest?

It's just really fucking confusing. I've been wanting to buy a bunch of the books since the movies were over, but every time I look, I worry I'll fuck myself over by choosing the wrong printings or something.