Lord Of The Rings Boxed Set

If you're prioritizing reading comfort & high end (I bring it up because you mentioned the 2024 deluxe) the Folio Society editions are fantastic with nice paper and a supple binding that stays open without much effort. They are of course expensive. They aren't that light though. On the less deluxe side the 60th anniversary boxset with Tolkien's original dust jacket designs are another good choice for comfortable hardcover. The paper doesn't seem super nice but its thin (making the books light for a hardcover of its size) and short grained so the pages stay open with no effort. I always remove dust jackets when its time to read for any book that comes with them and these look simple but nice without them. They have gold foiled stamped spines and are bound in textured black paper. The Alan Lee illustrated standard hardcovers are also very nice books, the paper is much nicer than the 60th anniversary set. The binding is tighter than the two mentioned above but its not terrible and definitely more comfortable than the 2024 deluxe. The pages probably don't stay open on their own but they don't require much effort to hold open. Under the DJ they are bound in textured red paper and have gold foil stamped titles on the spine. They are a bit on the heavier side. I don't have the dust jacket-less collector's editions already mentioned in another comment. They certainly look nice bare but I can't comment on reading comfort one handed. A tight binding can also be exercised by (gently) pressing down a few pages at a time working your way from the outside to the center. This YT video shows the process better. I haven't done this with either the standard Alan Lee or the 2024 deluxe both of which I own but haven't read yet so I don't know how much this will improve things. I suspect not much on the 2024 deluxe. ps. The Das youtube channel linked above seems very respected in bookbinding circles and he suggests this process be done for every book regardless.