Core Texts

The Lord of the Rings

I shouldn't really have to write this as you should have read The Lord of the Rings ages ago. This is the book by JRR Tolkien, and most peopes first real venture into Middle-earth, few leave. It was voted book of the twentieth century by Waterstones (one of the biggest bookshops in the UK) customers and by members of the Folio Society (speciallists in classic books) and book of the second Millenium by Amazon.com customers. I shall just quote a few of the many praises for The Lord of the Rings:

• "Masterpiece? Oh yes, I've no doubt about that'
  Evening Standard (London)
• "The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and those who are going to read them
  Sunday Times (UK)

Collectable Editions

The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by Alan Lee A huge one volume edition of the Lord of the Rings accompanied throughout by fifty colour illustrations by Alan Lee. This all means this will not be the edition you take to read on the bus. The paintings really are beautiful, however although Alan Lee is possiby a better artist than Ted Nasmith, Lee's are dreamlike, or as HarperCollins put it, spellbinding, but they never seem threatening, or real enough like the ook and Ted Nasmith. Nevertheless any fan of Tolkien can afford to be without this book. My favorite illustration by far is the amazing painting of the battle of Helm's deep.

The Lord of the Rings Millennium Edition A missed oppertunity. Highly collectable I expect this edition instead of being split into the common three books this is split into seven books; one hardback volume for each book of LotR and one for the appendices. The binding however is poor and there isn't a copy of the maps in each volume. I realise that all these changes were to keep costs low but I am sure people would have paid a lot more for the edition Tolkien really would have wanted. Ther is a accompaning CD, however, which is worth every penny that I paid for the book which has Tolkien himself reading extracts from the book.

The Silmarillion Illustrated by Ted Nasmith Commisioned to celebrate 21 years since it was first published. This is a suuperb illustratted edition of Tolkien's epic precurser of the Lord of the Rings it contains twenty paintings by Ted Nasmith. Ted Nasmith is my personal favorite Tolkien artist and some of the paintings in this book are breathtaking it is a shame there are only twenty. I could not pick the best as so many are astounding.

The Hobbit Illustrated by Alan Lee This special edition really is special. Alan Lee is even better here than in The Lord of the Rings and there is plenty of him, 25 commisioned paintings and 35 line drawings. The line drawings are perfect, though the paintings are more misty than in LotR. I love the picture of the company passing over the bridge in Rivendell which I find anchanting.

The History of Middle-earth

More information can be found in "What's in the History of Middle-earth?", thanks to Mellonath Daeron. It is a publication and gives a brief summary of each of the sections in each book.

Unfinished Tales Strictly not in the History of Middle-earth series. This is a wonderful book, I like it even more than the Hobbit. Only after I had read this book did I understand the true scope of Tolkien's imagination. J.R.R.Tolkien's Unfinished Tales is a collection ranging from the time of The Silmarillion - the Elder days of Middle-earth - to the end of the War of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Its many treasures include Gandalf's lively account of how he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and a description of the military organisation of the Riders of Rohan. Lovers of Tolkien's mythology will be fascinated to read the only story from the long ages of Numenor before its downfall, and all that is known of such matters as the Five Wizzards, the Palantiri, and the legend of Amroth. The collection has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides a commentary placing each of the Tales in the context of his father's work.

The Book of Lost Tales 1, (HoME 1) The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Silmarillion. Embedded in English legend and English association, they are set in the narrative frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol (or AElfwine) to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse. In the Tales are found the earliest accounts and original ideas of Gods and Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; of Nargothrond and Gondolin; of the geography and cosmology of the invented world.

The Book of Lost Tales 2, (HoME 2) This second part of The Book of Lost Tales includes the tales of Beren and Luthien, Turin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.

The Lays of Beleriand, (HoME 3) This, the third volume to The History of Middle-earth, gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world - those of Turin and Luthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished Lay of the Children of Hurin, narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Turin Turambar. The second is the moving Lay of Leithian, the chief source of the tale of Beren and Luthien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress.

The Shapping of Middle-earth, (HoME 4) In this fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, the shaping of the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor is spread before us. We are introduced to the hitherto unknown Ambarkanta or 'Shape of the World', the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, accompanied by maps and diagrams of the world before and after the cataclysms of The War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor. The first map of Beleriand is also reproduced and discussed. In The Annals of Valinor and The Annals of Beleriand we are shown how the chronology of the First Age was moulded; and the tale is told of Aelfwine, the Englishman who voyaged into the True West and came to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where he learned the ancient history of Elves and Men. Also included are the original 'Silmarillion' of 1926, and the Quenta Noldorinwa of 1930 - the only version of the myths and legends of the First Age that J.R.R. Tolkien completed to their end.

The Lost Road and other Writings, (HoME 5) At the end of 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien reluctantly set aside his work on the myths and heroic legends of Valero and Middle-earth and began Lord of the Rings. This fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth completes the examination of his writing up to that time. Later forms of The Annals of Valero and The Annals of Beleriand had been composed, The Silmarillionwas nearing completion in a greatly amplified form, and a new Map had been made. The legend of the Downfall of Numenor had entered the work, including those central ideas: the World Made Round and the Straight Path into the vanished West. Closely associated with this was the abandoned 'time-travel' story The Lost Road, linking the world of Numenor and Middle-earth with the legends of many other times and peoples. Also included in this volume is The Lhammas, an essay on the complex languages and dialects of Middle-earth, and an 'etymological dictionary' containing an extensive account of Elvish vocabularies.

The Return of the Shadow, (HoME 6) The Return of the Shadow is the first part of the history of the creation of The Lord of the Rings, a fascinating study of Tolkien's great masterpiece, from its inception to the end of the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring. In The Return of the Shadow (the abandoned title of the first volume of The Lord of the Rings) we see how Bilbo's 'magic' ring evolved into the supremely dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord; and the precise, and astonishingly unforeseen, moment when a Black Rider first rode into the Shire. The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed, though his true identity seems to be an insoluble problem. Frodo's companions undergo many changes of name and personality; and other major figures appear in unfamiliar guises: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, and a ferocious, malevolent Farmer Maggot. This book comes complete with reproductions of the first maps and facsimile pages from the earlier manuscripts.

The Treason of Isenguard, (HoME 7) The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, The Return of the Shadow. It traces the great expansion of the tale into new lands and new peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emergence of Lothlorien, of Ents of the Riders of Rohan, and of Saruman and White in the fortress of Isengard. In brief outlines and pencilled drafts dashed down on scraps of paper are seen the first entry of Galadriel, the earliest ideas of the history of Gondor, and the original meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed. The book also contains a full account of the original map which was to be the basis of the emerging geography of Middle-earth; and an appendix examines the Runic alphabets, with illustrations of the forms and an analysis of the Runes used in the Book of Mazarbul found beside Balin's tomb in Moria.

The War of the Ring, (HoME 8) The War of the Ring takes up the story of The Lord of the Rings with the Battle of Helm's Deep and the drowning of Isengard by the Ents, continues with the journey of Frodo, Sam and Gollum to the Pass of Cirith Ungol, describes the war in Gondor, and ends with the parsley between Gandalf and the ambassador of the Dark Lord before the Black Gate of Mordor. Unforeseen developments that would become central to the narrative are seen at the moment of their emergence: the palantir bursting into fragments on the stairs of Orthanc, its nature as unknown to the author as to those who saw it fall, or the entry of Faramir into the story ('I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking through the woods of Ithilien'). The book is illustrated with plans and drawings of the changing conceptions of Orthanc, Dunharrow, Minas Tirith and the tunnels of Shelob's Lair.

Sauron Defeated, (HoME 9) In the first section of Sauron Defeated Christopher Tolkien completes his fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings. Beginning with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, this section ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue, in which, years after the departure of Bolbo and Frodo from the Grey Havens, Sam attempts to answer his children's questions. The second section is an edition of The Notion Club Papers, now published for the first time. These mysterious papers discovered in the early years of the twentieth-first century, report the discussions of an Oxford club in the years 1986-7, in which, after a number of topics, the centre of interest turns to the legends of Atlantis, the strange communications received by other members of the club from the past, and the violent irruption of the legend into the North-west of Europe. Closely associated with the Papers is a new version of the Drowning of Anadune, which constitutes the third part of the book. At this time the language of the Men of the West, 'Adunaic', was first devised, and the book concludes with an account of its structure provided by Arundel Lowdham, a member of the Notion Club, who learned it in his dreams.

Morgoth's Ring, (HoME 10) In Morgoth's Ring, the first of two companion volumes, Christopher Tolkien describes and documents the later history of The Silmarillion, from the time when his father turned again to 'the Matter of the Elder Days' after The Lord of the Rings was at last achieved. The text of the Annals of Aman, the 'Blessed Land' in the far West, is given in full; while in writings hitherto unknown is seen the nature of the problems that J.R.R. Tolkien explored in his later years, as new and radical ideas, portending upheaval in the old narratives, emerged at the heart of the mythology, and as the destinies of Men and Elves, mortals and immortals, became of central significance, together with a vastly enlarged perception of the evil of Melkor, the Shadow upon Arda. The second part of this history of the later Silmarillion is concerned with developments in the legends of Beleriand after the completion of The Lord of the Rings.

The War of the Jewels, (HoME 12) In The War of the Jewels Christopher Tolkien takes up his account of the later history of The Silmarillion from the point where it was left in Morgoth's Ring. The story now returns to Middle-earth, and the ruinous conflict of the High Elves and the Men who were their allies with the power of the Dark Lord. With the publication in this book of all J.R.R. Tolkien's later narrative writing concerned with the last centuries of the First Age, the long history of The Silmarillion, form its beginning in The Book of Lost Tales, is completed; and the enigmatic state of the work at his death can be understood. The book contains the full text of the Grey Annals, the primary record of The War of the Jewels, and a major story of Middle-earth now published for the first time: the tale of the disaster that overtook the forest people of Brethil when Hurin the Steadfast came among them after his release from long years of captivity in Angband, the fortress of Morgoth.

The Peoples of Middle-earth, (HoME 12) When J.R.R.Tolkien laid aside The Silmarillion in 1937 the extension of the original 'mythology' into later Ages of the world had scarcely begun. It was in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that there emerged a comprehensive historical structure and chronology of the Second and Third Ages, embracing all the diverse strands that came together in the War of the Ring. The difficulty that he found in providing these Appendices, leading to delay in the publication of The Return of the King, is well known; but in The Peoples of Middle-earth Christopher Tolkien shows that early forms of these works already existed years before, in essays and records differing greatly from the published forms. He traces the evolution of the Calendars, the Hobbit genealogies, the Westron language or Common Speech (from which many words and names are recorded that were afterwards lost), and the chronological structure of the later Ages. Other writings by J.R.R. Tolkien are included in this final volume of The History of Middle-earth, chiefly deriving from his last years, when new insights and new constructions still freely arose as he pondered the history that he had created. The book concludes with two soon-abandoned stories, both unique in the setting of time and place: The New Shadow in Gondor of the Fourth Age, and the tale of Tal-elmar, in which the coming of the dreaded Numenorean ships is seen through the eyes of men of Middle-earth in the Dark Years.

Books about Tolkien

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien A wonderful book containing hundreds of Letters to his family (many are to Christopher Tolkien) as well as too his friends and publisher. Many letters are wonderful tressure troves of information as he explains some obscure questions put forward by readers (did you ever want to know what type of creature the Black Riders beasts were?). This book is very valuable if you wish to fully explore Tolkien.

Books about Middle-earth

The Atlas of Tolkien's Middle-earth, by Karan Wynn Fonsted This is far and away the best book examining Tolkien's works there is. I read it cover to cover (there are a lot more explanations than your average atlas) and I cannot sing its praises high enough. There are hundreds of two-colour (brown and black) maps and diagrams that chart every bit of Middle-earth as well as the rest of Arda. It also shows the plan of the Prancing Pony, distributions of Languages, and charts of the travels of the various hobbit journeys. I will say nothing else, but whatever you do buy it!

Jorneys of Frodo, by Barbara Strachey Work of 20 years this book follows the path of the all Fellowship as told in The Lord of the Rings. In the traditional red and black some of the speculated paths have been questioned by Christopher Tolkien, however this remains the best book to accompany The Lord of the Rings and ensures you will never get lost again!

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*The Two Towers, The Black Gate is Closed

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