Into the Archive: Treasures New and Old

 

The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien, Three Volumes Slipcased, Vol. I 1910 - 1919, Vol. II 1919 – 1931, Vol. III 1931 – 1967, Edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (William Morrow, An Imprint of Harper Collins, 2024)

I had ordered this at the beginning of September, knowing that I must have it. It arrived today, two days early; quite fitting as it is the 87^th anniversary of the first publication of The Hobbit. Tomorrow is so-called Hobbit Day, Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday, dedicated to celebrations and reading Tolkien. I know what I shall be reading.

The Collected Poems is just such a book as I have dreamed of since middle school, only much more complete. Then I could only imagine the poetry from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; these volumes have much more. Not only are there various variants of poems that have already been published, there are seventy poems that have never been printed before. Copiously curated by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, a team of Tolkien scholars known for their erudition. The books themselves are almost elvishly beautiful, with silver-blue spines and creamy white covers, each decorated by one of Tolkien’s own ornate drawings of stylized trees. Each has a blue ribbon bookmark. The first volume is 445 pages, the second is 976 pages, and the third is a whopping 1501 pages. They have no individual dust jackets; the slipcase protects them all. I almost fear to handle them with mortal hands, but that’s the kind I’m equipped with.

I have only just dipped a toe in so far; I do not even know if they include the so-called Long Lays of Beleriand, the complex and lengthy poems that tell the stories of Beren and Luthien and the Children of Hurin. I look forward to many fine hours of finding out. ‘Tis the season … for Tolkien.

Update: I just realized that Volume I seems so short because it has an Introduction and a Chronolgy that is XCI (91) pages long before the actual poems and Arabic numbering began. That makes it closer to 546 pages long.

I should include here that I also already got The Fantasy Book by Franz Rottensteiner (Colliers, 1978) in the regular mail today. It was very nostalgic to riffle through it again. It certainly brought back memories of high school. But I always thought that the cover was rather unfortunate.