Thursday, February 11, 2021

My Tolkien Timeline


 Inspired by my find yesterday, I decided to put together a timeline of highlights in my Tolkien fandom.


1972 March: “The Hobbit”, play at SHS. I was in the 3rd Grade.

[1973 September 2: Tolkien passes away.]

1975-1976 --12 years old--Seventh Grade—AJB Year 2--Read “The Hobbit”

1976-1977 --13 years old--Eighth Grade—AJB Year 3—Read “The Lord of the Rings”; bought “The Tolkien Reader” and “A Guide to Middle-earth”

1977 November 7: Rankin/Bass animated “The Hobbit” premieres.

[1978 Hildebrandt Tolkien Calendar] the famous “Calenoar”

1978: “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight-Pearl-Sir Orfeo”

1978 July 10: Got “The Hobbit Desk Calendar”. [remaindered]

1978 August 5: Got Fantastic Films Magazine with my first glimpse of the Bakshi LOTR film.

1978 November 15: Release date of Bakshi LOTR. Much getting of merchandise at this time, including soundtracks, posters, and action figures.

1979 November 9: Mom buys me “The Silmarillion”

1978-79: Hardback copies of “Farmer Giles of Ham”, “Smith of Wootton Major”, “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”

1980-1981 --17 years old--Twelfth Grade—Senior

1980 November 29: Bought “Unfinished Tales”

1981-1982 --18 years old--first year college

1981: “The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien”

1983: “Mr. Bliss”

1983-1996: “The History of Middle-earth” [14 volumes]

1998: “Roverandom”

2001-2003: “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy

2007: ‘The Great Tales Trilogy’ begins with “The Children of Hurin”

2009: What I think of as “The World Legends” series begins with “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun”

2012-2014: “The Hobbit” film trilogy

2013: “The Fall of Arthur” (World Legends)

2014: “Beowulf: A Translation and a Commentary” (World Legends)

2015: “The Story of Kullervo” (World Legends) 

2016: The World Legends series concludes with “The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun”

2017: “Beren and Luthien”, the second in the Great Tales Trilogy

2018 August 30: The Great Tales Trilogy concludes with “The Fall of Gondolin”

[2020 January 16: Christopher Tolkien dies.]

2021 January: My latest Tolkien book, a new illustrated edition of “Unfinished Tales”

 

All through the years I bought many another edition of Tolkien’s books and tons of tie-ins: calendars, books written by others about Tolkien and Middle-earth, music, merchandise, and action figures. They are harder to pinpoint, as many books I did not purchase at the time they were released but years later. I’m hoping to get the new book “The Nature of Middle-earth” later this year.


1 comment:

  1. Tolkien opened a door for me back in High School, and I have never looked back. I still have the old Ballantine paperbacks even though I have the Red Book, among other printings, and have collected almost all there is to have on the man and Middle-Earth. It had gotten me through some hard times and continues to inspire me. I just got an unfinished Bakshi banner. I find it rare and wonderful to still be so enthused by it after 40 years.

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