“The story [of Beren and Luthien] was published in 2017 as a
standalone book edited by Christopher
Tolkien under
the title Beren and Lúthien. The story is one of three
within The
Silmarillion that
Tolkien believed warranted their own long-form narratives, the other two
being The Children of Húrin and The
Fall of Gondolin.
The book is illustrated by Alan
Lee and edited
by Christopher Tolkien, and it features different versions of the story,
showing the development of the tale over time. It is painstakingly restored
from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and
standalone story. The intent of the book is to extract a single narrative out
of the ever-evolving materials that make up "The Tale of Beren and
Lúthien". It does not contain every version or edit to the story, but
those Christopher Tolkien believed would offer the most clarity and minimal
explanation.” – Wikipedia. “I have at long last got a copy of the most recent
Tolkien book, "Beren and Luthien," and, as I imagined I would, gulped
it down in one swallow. It contains, as Christopher Tolkien himself admits,
"not a single page of original or unpublished work," always excepting
his own thorough and scholarly editorial work and comments. So why buy and read
such a book? There are several good reasons. For one thing, it draws together
all the materials from one of the three great tales of the 'Legendarium,'
around which "The Silmarillion" itself could be said to have
coalesced. If one does not wish to go hunting and pecking through the twelve
massive volumes of "The History of Middle Earth," the three volumes
of "The Lord of the Rings," or indeed quotes from "The Letters
of J. R. R. Tolkien," here you may find the numerous versions gathered
together for your convenience, and in chronological order of composition, no
less; all "set out fair and square." Another would be the inimitable
illustrations of Alan Lee, whose work with the producers of the "The Lord
of the Rings" films has cemented him in the position of THE illustrator of
Tolkien's world. With ten new color pictures (including the cover) and numerous
pencil sketches, he fills in more of the visuals of Middle Earth, including
alternate visions from "The Book of Lost Tales," where we see Sauron
in his original form of Thu, a monstrous black cat.” – Power of Babel.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Literary History. Hardback.
The Fall of Gondolin, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by
Christopher Tolkien. With Illustrations by Alan Lee.
“THE FALL OF GONDOLIN, by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by
Christopher Tolkien, concludes what might be considered the Great Tales
Trilogy, begun with THE CHILDREN OF HURIN and continued in BEREN AND LUTHIEN,
in which the three most engaging strands of narrative from the Middle Earth
'Legendarium' are followed and developed, from their earliest conceptions to
their last and latest forms. This book, as the others before it, incorporates
the artwork of Alan Lee, a name that has come to be associated by an entire
generation with the Tolkien brand, in eight color plates and fifteen pencil
sketches. A fold-out map of Beleriand is included, the part of Middle Earth
where the story takes place, and which has been drowned for many centuries by
the time the events of THE LORD OF THE RINGS take place. It is, altogether, a
lovely and lovingly made book. THE FALL OF GONDOLIN gathers scattered material
mostly already published throughout the monumental twelve volumes of THE
HISTORY OF MIDDLE EARTH into one convenient location. This allows the
development of this Great Tale to be examined more minutely and the workings of
J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic mind and methods, his hopes and dreams, to be
laid bare. Someone who has had the time and leisure to follow these threads for
nearly forty years, and has had access to every volume in the ever-growing
mythos, may think there is nothing new to be found, but such a person would be
wrong. The ever-maturing insights of Christopher Tolkien into his father's
work, the scholarly labor he brings into classifying and clarifying the
different layers of composition, the guardianship and identification he has
come to have with that work, has reached its ultimate expression in this book.
And at ninety-four (thirteen years older than his father ever lived)
Christopher states that this is 'indubitably' the last volume of his father's
'Legendarium' he will ever edit. It is the end of an age. Whatever follows
after this must be at best third-hand accounts and analyses, and more or less
faithful 'retellings' and retailings from the authentic material. The story of
THE FALL OF GONDOLIN, both of the tale itself and the real-life account of its
development, tells of a high achievement that 'founders'. The story follows the
fate of the hidden Elvish realm and city of Gondolin, which has been preserved
in hidden secrecy from the malice of the Dark Lord, Morgoth. The time of its
fate draws near, however, and the great Vala of the sea, Ulmo, who still pities
the Elves in their exile, sends the man Tuor to warn the Elven King Turgon of
approaching doom. The downfall of the city, the workings out of hope and
treachery and fear and fidelity, and an epic battle and defense, are the
substance of the narrative. The story's finest flower and embellishment in its
last version ends at the poignant point where the questing Tuor pierces the
encircling mountains and gets a vision of the white city of Gondolin from afar
off. There Tolkien drops the tale, perhaps too tired and in poor hopes of ever
getting his stories of the First Age published, perhaps despairing that he
could ever raise his powers again high enough to match the visions of his
youth. It remains, as Gimli says in THE RETURN OF THE KING of the works of men,
a 'might-have-been'. But it is a glimpse, a far-off dream, that can still stir
the heart. And so Christopher Tolkien lays down his steward's rod. I must
confess that, after what was the obvious necessity of having a version of THE
SILMARILLION edited together, I had some doubts about his releases of Tolkien's
unpublished works, fearing a mere 'cash grab'. But the years of his scholarly
application and the wary preservation of his father's legacy, even in the face
of enormous sums of money to be had, has led me to be ashamed of my original
fears. If J. R. R. Tolkien has been Earendil, a star rising with hope
unlooked-for in the firmament of literature, Christopher Tolkien has been his
son Elrond, preserving lore and wisdom into another age. I believe I have said
it before: when we enjoy these posthumously published works of Tolkien, we are
not merely reading the work of one great man; we find the work of two.” – Power
of Babel.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Literary History. Hardback.
Tolkien On Fairy-stories, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Expanded
edition, with commentary and notes. Edited by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas
Anderson. (2008)
What it says on the label. “"On Fairy-Stories" is
an essay by J. R.
R. Tolkien which
discusses the fairy-story as a literary form. It was initially written (and
entitled simply "Fairy Stories") for presentation by Tolkien as
the Andrew
Lang lecture at
the University of St Andrews, Scotland, on 8 March 1939. In the lecture, Tolkien chose to
focus on Andrew Lang’s work as a folklorist and collector
of fairy tales. He disagreed with Lang's broad inclusion in his Fairy Books
collection (1889–1910), of traveller's tales, beast fables, and other types of
stories. Tolkien held a narrower perspective, viewing fairy stories as those that
took place in Faerie, an enchanted realm, with or without fairies
as characters. He disagreed with both Max Müller and Andrew Lang in their
respective theories of the development of fairy stories, which he viewed as the
natural development of the interaction of human imagination and human language.
The essay is significant because it contains Tolkien's explanation of his
philosophy on fantasy and thoughts on mythopoiesis. Moreover, the essay is an early
analysis of speculative
fiction by one
of the most important authors in the genre.” – Wikipedia. We’ll hear more of
Flieger and Anderson later.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Essay. Fantasy. Hardback.
Roverandom, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christina Scull
and Wayne G. Hammond. Illustrations by the Author. (1998)
“Roverandom is a novella by J. R. R. Tolkien, originally told in 1925, about the
adventures of a young dog, Rover. In the story, an irritable wizard turns Rover
into a toy, and Rover goes to the Moon and under the sea in order to find the
wizard again to turn him back into a normal-sized dog. The author wrote Roverandom for
his son Michael to amuse him upon the loss of his favourite toy, a little
leaden dog which he lost on a beach of grey shingle stones the same size and
colour as the toy. The work is in tone a children's story, but contains many
allusions and references in the manner of Farmer
Giles of Ham. It
was submitted for publication in 1937 after the success of The Hobbit, but was not published for over sixty
years, finally being released in 1998. the tale's brief glimpse of the Shadowy
Seas and Elvenhome links it to Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium.” – Wikipedia.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Children’s Book. Hardback.
Farmer Giles of Ham (Embellished by Pauline Baynes), Smith of
Wootton Major (Illustrated by Pauline Baynes), and The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil (Illustrated by Pauline Baynes), by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Bought around 1979, I believe (the date inside each, at least,
says 1978), at Hastings. These are the storybooks, plain and simple (no
scholarly apparatus) in stand-alone editions, and the size makes the
illustration clearer and more enjoyable than ever.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Children’s Books. Hardback.
Farmer Giles of Ham: 50th Anniversary Edition, by
J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.
Includes all of Pauline Baynes’s illustrations, with her new
drawing of a map of the Little Kingdom; the previously unpublished original
version of the tale; and Tolkien’s sketch for an unpublished sequel that was
never written. Notes and annotations by Scull and Hammond. (1999)
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Literary History. Hardback.
Smith of Wootton Major, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Verlyn
Flieger. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
A small, chunky book, evidently born of the same impulse as
the 50th Anniversary ‘Farmer Giles’ with extra picture from Baynes,
Tolkien’s notes and early drafts, and much history and scholarly apparatus. An
inside look at the complicated background of this seemingly simple little
story. (2005)
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Literary Scholarship. Hardback.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited
by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
Has new Baynes illustrations including her re-drawing for
‘The Hoard’, the history of the publication, and the original versions of poems
that had been rewritten to make them more ‘Middle-Earthy’. Much history and
insight into this “little book for the young’uns”. Includes the Bombadil poem
“Once Upon a Time”. (2014)
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Literary Scholarship. Hardback.
The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Illustrated by Alan Lee.
(1997)
“Commemorates the 60th Anniversary of The Hobbit.”
Over 60 watercolor and pencil illustrations by Lee. Lee went on to be one of
the primary concept artists for the LOTR movies.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.
The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Illustrated by
Alan Lee.
Illustrations copyright 1991, but I got this copy much later,
secondhand, and can’t pin down the printing. Has a ribbon. Cover slightly
damaged. Fifty color illustrations.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.
The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Illustrated by Ted
Nasmith. (1998)
20 full-page illustrations in color, including the back and
front cover. Nasmith is particularly good at pictures in large scale; he has
that epic scope.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel Hardback.
The Hobbit: 50th Anniversary Edition, by J. R. R.
Tolkien.
The other slip-cased ‘leather’ edition was the Green Hobbit;
this is the Gold Hobbit. “The Hobbit (50th Anniversary edition) is
an edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit published in 1987, featuring a new Foreword by Christopher
Tolkien. Included in
the Foreword are reminiscences by Christopher of his father, and reproductions of two
pages from the manuscript of The Hobbit, together with six further
illustrations and several extracts from letters written by J.R.R. Tolkien.” –
Tolkien Gateway.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback. Anniversary Edition.
The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary Edition,
by J. R. R. Tolkien. (2004)
The Black Lord of the Rings. “Fully corrected, all new text
setting; color insert showing leaves from the Book of Mazarbul; deluxe leather
binding with two-color foil stamping; gilded edges, ribbon bookmark; Two
foldout two-color maps.” I haven’t even taken it out of its protective plastic
sheath.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback. Anniversary Edition.
