Product Description
The authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. In the decades since his death in September 1973, millions have read THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books.

Born in South Africa in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood and brought up in near-poverty. He served in the first World War, surviving the Battle of the Somme, where he lost many of the closest friends he'd ever had. After the war he returned to the academic life, achieving high repute as a scholar and university teacher, eventually becoming Merton Professor of English at Oxford where he was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and the other writers known as The Inklings.

Then suddenly his life changed dramatically. One day while grading essay papers he found himself writing 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit' -- and worldwide renown awaited him.

Humphrey Carpenter was given unrestricted access to all Tolkien's papers, and interviewed his friends and family. From these sources he follows the long and painful process of creation that produced THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE SILMARILLION and offers a wealth of information about the life and work of the twentieth century's most cherished author.Amazon.com Review
There may be a corner of the world where the name J.R.R. Tolkien isunknown, but you would be hard-pressed to find it. Since their publication,The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings havebeen published in every major language of the world. And though hesingle-handedly gave a mythology to the English and was beloved bymillions, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien remained refreshingly unchanged by hisfame and fortune, living out his days simply and modestly among the familiar surroundings of Oxford College. Humphrey Carpenter, who was given unrestricted access to Tolkien's papers, brilliantly puts meat to the bones of the Tolkien legend in J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, offering a well-rounded portrayal of this quiet, bookishman who always saw himself first and foremost as a philologist, uncoveringrather than creating the peoples, languages, and adventures ofMiddle-Earth.

Carpenter chronicles Tolkien's early life with a special sensitivity; afterlosing both parents, Tolkien and his brother Hilary were taken from theiridyllic life in the English countryside to a poverty-ridden existence indark and sooty Birmingham. There were bright points, however.A social and cheerful lad, Tolkien enjoyed rugby and was proud of his giftfor languages. It was also at this time that he met Edith Bratt, who wouldlater become his wife. Academic life--both as a student and professor--iswhere this biography shines. Friendship with other men played a huge partin Tolkien's life, and Carpenter deftly reveals the importance theserelationships--his complex friendship with C.S. Lewis, membership in theInklings and the T.C.B.S.--had on the development of his writing.

The only criticism one can make about this book is that Carpenter tends togloss over Tolkien's contributions to comparative philology.True, thereis a chapter devoted to Tolkien's academic pursuits, but it tends to skimtoo lightly over the surface for this reviewer's tastes. Philology is aterribly methodical science, and the author clearly did not want toalienate readers who were primarily interested in Tolkien as a storyteller.Still, it would be nice to understand why Tolkien was held in such highesteem by his fellow academics. As it stands, Tolkien comes offas a slightly eccentric etymologist.

Fans who want to delve even deeper into Tolkien's life should pick up a copyof Carpenter's The Lettersof J.R.R. Tolkien. --P.M. Atterberry ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Great Work
An essential work for the person desiring to learn more about the roots of Tolkien's mythology and what I would call, "deepest desires of his heart." Read the LOTR and Similrillion first. You will find, I believe, the fullness of Tolkien's heart in these great works of fiction, which he believed were actually true (see letter to Milton Waldman, 1951). Book, while at times dry, keeps to the truth of who and what Tolkien expressed. Two things I loved, it shows how the messianic Earendel is basically the central theme of his whole work from which all the other things grew and developed, which sprang from his early reading of an Old English poem, Crist 1. Two, author maintains truth that WW1 and Tolkien's experience there was not the primary influence behind his writings, although it did influence him; mostly it seems through the death of some of his dearest friends which probably led to Tolkien's fascination with themes of life and death, and the loss of perfection (ie, the Fading of the Elves which is a primary theme throughout Tolkien's writings.) Read it! But read his works first.

Short, Readable, and Enjoyable
Carpenter's biography is excellent. It is a pleasant reading experience that focuses on the man and does not try to speculatively psychoanalyze his literary work, although the biographical facts can indeed help in deepening understanding of the literary work. For example, I, for one, learned the fascinating fact that Tolkien's priest-guardian, after his widowed mother's untimely death, was half-Spanish, spoke Spanish fluently, and let the young Tolkien peruse his Spanish books--facts that led me to consider more closely the parallel between Frodo and Sam and that other adventurous duo, Don Quixote and Sancho. Good biographies of writers give us the plain facts, without overmuch speculation, to enrich our reading and understanding of a writer's works. Carpenter has done exactly that. In Carpenter's other book which collects the letters of Tolkien, Tolkien remarks on his love of the Spanish language--more evidence for one more insight into this great writer's masterpiece.

Tolkien Lives
Excellent book on the author of the milennium...shows how his writing was influenced by the events of his life. Very touching, revealing, and noteworthy,

Great Biography despite a few missing pieces
This review is based upon the first edition which was written in 1977.

This biography is fair and gives a vivid detail of not only the life of Tolkien but also the times and events that shaped the man. I would have liked to have seen more into the light of his religion as well as the depth of his relationships particularly with Lewis,Dyson, and Williams.

I have to say that the ending had me near tears. It is hard to imagine that a man that has brought so much joy and creativity into the world that he would have died on a bed of loneliness. It was also sad for me to hear that the relationship between him and C.S. Lewis had fallen out and Lewis passed away before there could ever be any "rewrites" to make up for the past trespasses.

All in all this is one of the better biographies out and I will look forward to reading other biographies out there on Tolkien to give a solid comparison to this one.

A Surprisingly Pleasant Read
When I set about to read this book, I greatly feared that I'd be bored before I reached chapter two. Biographies have never seemed particularly appealing, especially those of authors. Yet I really wanted to learn a little more about Tolkien and the influences in his life that led to the creation of Middle Earth, so I prepared to suffer through. Carpenter, however, has a very conversational tone which made the read a pleasure. His use of actual letters, pictures and manuscripts, which the Tolkien family kindly gave him access to, was masterful. The text from those papers he chose to include was illuminating, but didn't weigh down the book as frequent quoting tends to do. Carpenter clearly had a sense of who Tolkien was, especially since he had the pleasure of speaking with the man himself.

Carpenter also understands that most people will be reading this book for a glimpse at the creation of Middle Earth, and gives ample focus to that throughout. But he never lets that detract from tackling the man as a whole, giving the reader a well rounded picture of the man behind the legend; from his childhood and relationship with his mother, to his Oxford days and friendship with C.S. Lewis, to his family life with wife and children. A marvelous read for any fan of Tolkien. ... Read more

Product Description
The editors of the best-selling rediscovered Tolkien novel Roverandom present an expanded fiftieth anniversary edition of Tolkien's beloved classic Farmer Giles of Ham, complete with a map, the original story outline, the original first-edition illustrations by Pauline Baynes, and the author's notes for an unpublished sequel. Farmer Giles of Ham is a light-hearted satire for readers of all ages that tells the tale of a reluctant hero who must save his village from a dragon. It is a small gem of a tale that grows more delightful with each rereading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Fine edition of a much neglected Tolkien title
As to the story and its telling, other reviewers have done justice with fairness & thoroughness, so I will add little. I point up the sometimes raucous humor here, which is a pure delight though it may take readers by surprise who have read only The Lord of the Rings. A funny, compact, and finished book, which stands on its own rather than being another piece of minor Tolkieniana for devotees, or a patchwork of manuscript versions, as are some other posthumous titles.

The presentation of this 50th Anniversary edition is both solid and elegant, without being grandiose. It should become a keepsake or even an heirloom. Fine green cloth binding with gold foil stampings, if an ordinary dust jacket. Paper, type, and printing are all outstanding and needless to say, archival. The original editions of Tolkien's 'minor' titles are not only expensive, as all his first/early editions, but are very difficult to find, and "Farmer Giles of Ham" especially so. I have a very fine copy (with near-fine DJ) of the 1967 first US edition of the similar "Smith of Wooten Major," and consider myself lucky (unlikely as it is I shall ever find a copy of the 1949 first edition of "Farmer Giles", less likely still at an affordable price), and this edition of "Farmer Giles" sits beside it on my shelves.

This is a good place to start for readers unfamiliar with Tolkien's writings that are not related to Middle-earth or its history, and this edition a keeper at an appealing Amazon price.

Its Not Middle Earth, But Its Still Tolkien At His Finest
There are no hobbits, elves, orcs, or entsin Farmer Giles of Ham, but this short tale is a worthy addition to the rest of J.R.R. Tolkien's books.Farmer Giles is a stout, not very brave fellow who lives quietly in the Middle Kingdom, a land which seems to be located somewhere in the middle of the modern land of England.One day Giles' dog Garm stumbles across a giant, Giles gives the giant a blast with his blunderbluss, and the giant stumbles off to tell a dragon about the rich pickings to be found.Giles blunders and bluffs his way through several sticky situations before finally gaining wealth and renown.

This is a funny little story with a lot of tongue in cheek asides which will remind readers of The Hobbit.This edition features much additional material in the form of notes by well known Tolkien scholars Christina Scull and her husband Wayne Hammond.These notes are highly illuminating, allowing us to see once again Tolkien's rich mind in action.An especially charming inclusion are notes Tolkien made for a planned sequel to Farmer Giles of Ham.Sadly, Tolkien never got around to writing the sequel, which is a real pity because the notes give hints that it would have been just as much fun as Farmer Giles itself.

While those who associate Tolkien only with hobbits may be a little disappointed with Farmer Giles of Ham, those who recognize that his genius extended far beyond the shores of Middle Earth will treasure this little tale forever.

A most wonderful little book
Long ago, in the lands of the Little Kingdom, there lived a farmer by the name of Aegidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo - or in the vulgar form, Farmer Giles of Ham. A no-nonsense man was Farmer Giles, and when someone steps onto his property, he is there to meet him with his blunderbuss. However, when the next person to set foot on his property is a giant, Farmer Giles soon finds himself dealing with kings and knights and legendary swords and, worst of all, dragons!

I have long been familiar with J.R.R. Tolkein's famous books - The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings - but, this cute little book shows that just about everything that he put his hand to he did beautifully! This is a most wonderful little book, one that is sure to entertain any lover of good fantasy literature. I loved this book, and highly recommend it!

Good story by Tolkien
A minor work by Tolkien, published in 1947, this small book (a bit larger than a short story, but well shorter than a typical novel) is set in an undetermined time in England (but which looks like the early middle ages, allowing for a number of anachronistic details, and unconnected with the Middle Earth of his most famous works). The hero goes through a series of encounters with mythical creatures and medieval knights, but his simplicity makes him always turn out on top. In that sense, this book has a tone that is remarkably similar with Chretien de Troyes great medieval book Perceval. So, in a way, this might be seen as Tolkien's own (indirect) try at the Arthurian legend.

Entertaining Fairy Tale
This is the story of how a farmer (and his dog) defend their farm from ogres and dragons and the like, which propels them reluctantly to fame and riches. Filled with irony, humor, and good morals, (not to mention fairy-tale action) it is a story that shows Tolkien's lighter side.

Farmer Giles of Ham is a fairy tale like story. It is rather short, and LOTR fans will find it lacking a lot of the depth Tolkien usually has. I would recommend it to a younger audience to get kids interested in his greater works.Still, it is pretty entertaining. ... Read more

Product Description
Long before the One Ring was forged in the fires of Mount Doom, one man—Húrin—dared to defy Morgoth, the first and greatest of the dark lords to plague Middle-earth. Thus did he and his children, Túrin and Niënor, earn the enmity of a merciless foe that would shape the destiny of all the ages to come.

Only J.R.R. Tolkien, the undisputed master of the fantastic, could have conceived this magical tale of Elves and Men united against a brutal foe. And only Christopher Tolkien, the master’s son and literary heir, could have fit the pieces of his father’s unfinished work together with such deep understanding and consummate artistry. With an introduction and appendiCes by Christopher Tolkien, who has also contributed maps and genealogy tables, and eight stunning paintings and twenty-five pencil drawings by Oscar-winning artist Alan Lee, The Children of Húrin at last takes its proper place as the very cornerstone of J.R.R. Tolkien’s immortal achievement.Amazon.com Review
The first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien in three decades--since the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977--The Children of Húrin reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, Eagles and Orcs. Presented for the first time as a complete, standalone story, this stirring narrative will appeal to casual fans and expert readers alike, returning them to the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.

Adam Tolkien on The Children of Húrin

How did a lifetime of stories become The Children of Húrin? In an essay on the making of the book, Adam Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien (and French translator of his History of Middle-earth), explains that the Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of his grandfather's Middle-earth writing, and he describes how his father, Christopher Tolkien, painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. "For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings," he writes, The Children of Húrin "allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy."

A Look Inside the Book

This first edition of The Children of Húrin is illustrated by Alan Lee, who was already well-known for his Tolkien illustrations in previous editions (see our Tolkien Store for more) as well as his classic collaboration with Brian Froud, Faeries, and his Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Black Ships Before Troy, before his Oscar-winning work as conceptual designer for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy brought him even greater acclaim. Here's a quick glimpse of two of Lee's interior illustrations for The Children of Húrin. (Click on each to see larger images.)

Questions for Alan Lee

We had the chance to ask Alan Lee a few questions about his illustrative collaboration with the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien:

Amazon.com: How much of a treat was it to get first crack at depicting entirely new characters rather than ones who had been interpreted many times before? Was there one who particularly captured your imagination?

Lee: Although it was a great honor to illustrate The Children of Húrin, the characters and the main elements of the story line are familiar to those who have read The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and these narratives have inspired quite a few illustrators. Ted Nasmith has illustrated The Silmarillion and touched on some of the same characters and landscapes. This was the first time that I ventured into the First Age; while working on The Lord of the Rings books and films--and The Hobbit--I've had to refer back to events in Middle-earth history but not really depict them.

I'm drawn to characters who bear similarities to the protagonists in myths and legends; these correspondences add layers and shades of meaning, and most of the characters in this story have those archetypal qualities. However, I prefer not to get too close to the characters because the author is delineating them much more carefully than I can, and I'm wary of interfering with the pictures that the text is creating in the reader's mind.

Amazon.com: The Húrin story has been described as darker than some of Tolkien's other work. What mood did you try to set with your illustrations?

Lee: It is a tragic story, but the darkness is offset by the light and beauty of Tolkien's elegiac writing. In the illustrations I tried to show some of the fragile beauty of the landscapes and create an atmosphere that would enhance the sense of foreboding and impending loss. I try to get the setting to tell its part in the story, as evidence of what happened there in the past and as a hint at what is going to occur. My usual scarred and broken trees came in handy.

Amazon.com: You were a conceptual designer (and won an Oscar) for Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, which I think we can safely say had a bit of success. How does designing for the screen compare to designing for the page?

Lee: They both have their share of joys and frustrations. It was great to be part of a huge film collaboration and play a small part in something quite magical and monumental; I will always treasure that experience. Film is attractive because I enjoy sketching and coming up with ideas more than producing highly finished artwork, and it's great having several hundred other people lending a hand! But books--as long as they don't get moldy from being left in an empty studio for six years--have their own special quality. I hope that I can continue doing both.

Amazon.com: Of all fiction genres, fantasy seems to have the strongest tradition of illustration. Why do you think that is? Who are some of your favorite illustrators?

Lee: A lot of excellent illustrators are working at the moment--especially in fantasy and children's books. It is exciting also to see graphic artists such as Dave McKean, in his film Mirrormask, moving between different media. I also greatly admire the more traditional work of Gennady Spirin and Roberto Innocenti. Kinuko Craft, John Jude Palencar, John Howe, Charles Vess, Brian Froud ... I'll stop there, as the list would get too long. But--in a fit of pride and justified nepotism--I'll add my daughter, Virginia Lee, to the list. Her first illustrated children's book, The Frog Bride [coming out in the U.K. in September], will be lovely.

More Tolkien Favorites

Visit our J.R.R. Tolkien Store for a complete selection of Tolkien classics, including deluxe editions, young readers' editions, and more.

The Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversary Edition

The Hobbit Collector's Edition

The Atlas of Middle Earth

... Read more

Customer Reviews (323)

Not Great, But Not Bad Either
I have read the Lord of the rings series and didn't find this book quite as interesting. It is however not a bad read to pass the time.

Not the best, certainly not the worst
I have read a lot of fantasy and scifi over the years. I originally read Lord of the Rings at age 10. Then again at age 11, then at age 12...you get the idear. Anyways, Children of Hurin is, entertainment wise, a massive leap forwards from the Silmarillian. Unfortunately, it pales next to the might of the Hobbit and LoTR. The reason I think is quite simple: its obvious where Tolkien started and stopped on this work during his life. A massive section of plot will be dealt with in 3 pages and then the next 40 will be spent on something that seems less important plot wise. So Kudos for finishing it up and releasing it, but it just doesn't work as well as it could. ....still better than 90% of the rest of Fantasy though. I could see this being tidied up and made into another Jackson movie at least. So maybe in 2020 we'll see it on screen. That might do the tale justice.

Children of Hurin
If you are a J. R. R. Tolkien Fan and have had the pleasure of reading his books this is a great way to enjoy his classic works.

Another Tolkien Classic
"As a lord was held for the strength of his body and stoutness of heart. Much lore he learned, and loved wisdom but fortune followed him in few desires; oft wrong and awry what he wrought turned; what he loved he lost, what he longed for he won not; and full friendship he found not easily, nor was lightly loved for his looks were sad. He was gloom-hearted, and glad seldom for the sundering sorrow that filled his youth..." On Turin Turambar - The Children of Hurin.
________________________________________
Written by J.R.R Tolkien and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Hurin is a fantasy novel that takes place long before The Lord of the Ring books, but in the same world.This tale starts by giving a long account of a King named Hurin who assembles the races of Elves and Man to go war against the Dark Lord, Morgoth, and his army of Orcs.Morgoth is ever increasingly invading their world.The good are standing up against evil to keep their families safe.Hurin leaves behind his pregnant wife, Morwen, and his eight year old boy, Turin, when he goes to war.The Elves and Men are defeated and nearly destroyed.Hurin is taken prisoner and is asked to yield to the Dark Lord.He defies Morgoth, and in return, Morgoth curses Hurin and his family.The story resumes with the accounts of what happens to Turin's wife and two children.The children become very noble and strong, but the curse upon them always leads them into bitter obstacles.

Tolkien does a great job in capturing his audience, but it takes a long time for the book to become gripping.He uses his own style and language that makes you feel like you are reading from the browned pages of a two-hundred year old book covered in dust.The dialect is hard to read.He uses names that sound too much alike which can become confusing.The wording, however, is used to take you back in time which gives the story an historic feel.

The Children of Hurin is not as great and famous as The Lord of the Rings, but the feel of the story is similar enough that you can tell it is written by Tolkien.It took a long time to get to the main part of the story, so patience is needed.Overall, it is a difficult but enjoyable book to read.

It just went on and on with no direction.
It was the worst book I've read in a while. The first few pages were the worst as it was just geneology. The main character just wanders around without any particular objective exceptkill any Orcs that are around. He meets a bunch of interesting people and does a bunch of things, but doesn't even try to rescue his father locked away in the bad guy's tower. Overall it was just slow and the ending was annoying. Don't read it!! ... Read more

Product Description
The End of the Third Age is comprised ofthe first section of the hardcover volume published as Sauron Defeated, the ninth volume of The History of Middle-earth. It completes Christopher Tolkien's account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings begun in the earlier volumes, The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, and The War of the Ring.

The End of the Third Age begins with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Kirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, this part ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue, in which, years after the departure of Bilbo and Frodo from the Grey Havens, Sam attempts to answer his children's questions.

The book is illustrated with changing conceptions of Kirith Ungol and Mount Doom, as well as previously unpublished drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V, EARLY TALES

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX, LORD OF THE RINGS

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI, THE SILMARILLION

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX, WRAP-UP

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

******

If you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

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I hope this helps you to select wisely based on your own interests. You can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in multi-volume sets. You can also save by buying the Ballantine mass-market paperback instead of the Houghton Mifflin trade paperback edition, although the former may have smaller type and you may need to use both hands to keep it open while you read.

The final volume in the history of the LOTR's genesis
Christopher Tolkien's final entry in his history of the writing of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is an abbreviated version of his "Sauron Defeated" coupled with some miscellaneous scraps, most notably the possible epilogue which Tolkien wrote, but discarded, later, regarding Sam's forthcoming final meeting with King Elessar of Gondor. It also includes information on The One Ring's destruction at Mount Doom, and the subsequent parting of the surviving Fellowship of the Ring. This slender volume with be of interest to diehard Tolkien fans and literary scholars alike.

Essential for an understanding of LOTR's creation
"The End of the Third Age" is the last of four volumes dealing with the history of the writing of "The Lord of the Rings."

It is also, buyers should know, an independently published portion of the previously published book called "Sauron Defeated," not a wholly new entry into the "History of Middle Earth" series, the larger, 12-part History that takes a close look at the creation of Tolkien's greatest achievement - Middle Earth itself - through early drafts, unpublished texts, and dead end writings. If you already have "Sauron Defeated," you will find no new text here.

If you're not a Tolkien fan, you need not apply. These incomplete and unfinished texts of early LOTR drafts, all explained, footnoted, annotated and expounded upon by his son, Christopher Tolkien, will only bore you. But if you're interested in seeing how the Professor developed the rich creation of Middle Earth, warts and all, this is a treasure trove of material. Christopher Tolkien goes to great lengths to examine each text, putting them in the context of the larger puzzle of his father's writings.

Most fascinating, and making this arguably the most essential entry to purchase for fans of the famous "trilogy," is the previously unpublished Epilogue featuring Sam speaking to his children. It was originally intended to be the book's final chapter, but was ultimately cut. It makes for interesting reading.

Again, take note: readers who can track down "Sauron Defeated" will get the entire text of this volume in that book, plus a wealth of other material not directly related to "The Lord of the Rings."

For casual fans, this is text better left unread. This is, after all, a series of unfinished draft chapters and essays. I enjoyed it, but many won't. Seek elsewhere if you are looking for more tales in the way of "The Lord of the Rings."

For ardent Tolkien readers, the series is a fascinating look at one of the great literary creations of the 20th Century, full of writings never before seen and stories only now being told. The exploration of how "The Lord of the Rings" came about is fantastic for those interested. Christopher Tolkien's work here is appreciated. Snatch this up.

Among the last scraps
His notes. His rewrites. His discarded scribbles. His shopping lists. Just about every word J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote has been carefully scrutinized and compiled into the "History" series. The finale of the series, "The End of the Third Age," is a prized curiosity for fans.

It contains Tolkien's (sometimes garbled) notes and drafts of "Return of the King." Different lines, altered characterizations, changed scenes, and a radically different Scouring of the Shire appear in these drafts. (Frodo killed "Sharkey" in earlier drafts) Christopher Tolkien provides plenty of explanation between nuggets of text about "my father's" writings. And the crowning touch is a couple drafts of the unused epilogue, in which we see Sam talking with his family.

People who aren't devoted fans of the "Lord of the Rings" books may be completely befuddled by "End of the Third Age." It's a fangeek thing, but it also serves as a literary curiosity. How did the story evolve, and how it was originally different? Well, this is part of what Tolkien wrote before the story was finished and published.

Tolkien's outstanding writing is hinted at even in the roughest, most incomplete fragments. And what makes this of special interest is not what was unfinished, but what was finished and not included. The epilogues (which were unfortunately not used) are beautiful, sweet and touching, and show Tolkien's love of family. They also serve as a better wrap-up to the trilogy.

The sweet epilogues lift "End of the Third Age" from a fan curiosity to a sort of "director's cut" book. For die-hard fans, it's a must-have. For casual fans, it's certainly something to check out.

The End of the HoME Series
It had to come to this.Every scrap of paper, memo, hankerchief and paper airplane that ever passed through JRR Tolkien's field of vision has been plundered of its commercial potential.The product is a mass of marginally legible notes which appeal to diehard fans (like me), but will have little appeal for the casual Tolkien afficienado.For the latter, purchase at your own risk. ... Read more

Product Description
'...If you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link. If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things along the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there.' -- J.R.R. Tolkien to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955

J.R.R. Tolkien, cherished author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter writers. Over the years he wrote a mass of letters -- to his publishers, his family, to friends, and to fans of his books -- which record the history and composition of his works and his reaction to subsequent events.

By turns thoughtful, impish, scholarly, impassioned, playful, vigorous, and gentle, Tolkien poured his heart and mind into a great stream of correspondence to intimate friends and unknown admirers all over the world. From this collection one sees a mind of immense complexity and many layers -- artistic, religious, charmingly eccentric, sentimental, and ultimately brilliant.

Now newly expanded with a detailed index, this collection provides an invaluable record that sheds much light on Tolkien's creative genius, his thoughts and feelings about his own work, and the evolution of his grand design for the creation of a whole new world -- Middle-earth.Amazon.com Review
Scholars and fans of the great mythologist will find a rich vein ofinformation in Humphrey Carpenter's The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.Tolkien was a prodigious letter writer all his life; the sheer mass of his correspondence would give pause to even the most stalwart archivist (one shudders to think what he would have done with e-mail).But with the able assistance of Tolkien's son Christopher and a healthy dose ofdetermination, Carpenter manages find the cream of the crop--the lettersthat shed light on Tolkien's thoughts about his academic and literary work, aswell as those that show his more private side, revealing a lovinghusband, a playful friend, and a doting father. The most fascinatingletters are, of course, those in which he discussesMiddle-Earth, and Carpenter offers plenty of those to choose from. Tolkien discussed the minutia of his legend--sometimes at great length--with friends,publishers, and even fans who wrote to him with questions.These lettersoffer significant insights into how he went about creating thepeoples and languages of Middle-Earth.

I have long ceased to invent (though even patronizingor sneering critics on the side praise my 'inventions'): I wait till I seemto know what really happened. Or till it writes itself. Thus, though I knewfor years that Frodo would run into a tree-adventure somewhere far down theGreat River, I had no recollection of inventing Ents. I came at last to thepoint, and wrote the 'Treebeard' chapter without any recollection of anyprevious thought: just as it is now. And then I saw that, of course, it hadnot happened to Frodo at all.

This new edition of letters has an extensive index, and Carpenter hasincluded a brief blurb at the beginning of each letter to explain who thecorrespondent was and what was being discussed. Still, we stronglyrecommend buying the companion volume, J.R.R. Tolkien: ABiography, in order to better understand the place thesecorrespondents had in Tolkien's life and get a better context for theletters. --Perry M. Atterberry ... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - A "Must" Have.
This book is a magnificent collection of the Master's own thoughts and words. It gives a fascinating insight into Tolkien's personal life, as well additional details of middle earth that are not in the books. It shows clearly how Tolkien could hammer out a very long and involved letter with ease. It captures how the written word was truly his medium. I can't imagine his son in a fox hole in the midst of WWII reading brand new LOTR chapters that nobody else had seen yet. A must have, for any Tolkien admirer.

Personal Insights Into Tolkien And His World
I consider this volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's letters, edited by his official biographer Humphrey Carpenter, to be among the most essential of his works.In these letters, collected from his youth until his last few months of life, we see Tolkien's personality and the evolution of his thinking about his created worlds at its finest.

Tolkien was one of the great letter writers of all time.Friends and family members could count on regularly receiving long, colorful screeds on any subject.Of course all these letters could not be included in this volume, lest it grow to encyclopedic size, but the letters Carpenter chose here are the ones of most value to those who value his created worlds.Here we see Tolkien's musings on the lifespans of Elves, the rise and fall of the Dunedain, and the possibilities of redemption for Orcs and Trolls.In these letters we also have some solutions to some of the mysteries of Middle earth, such as the cats of Queen Beruthiel and whether Dwarf women have beards.Then there are the throwaway references Tolkien made in his letters but included nowhere else in his Middle earth writings, like the story of thecareer of Lalia Took and her unfortunate demise.

Many of these letters were written to friends, family members, and business associates, but some were written in reply to fan letters from Tolkien's readers once his books were published.Imagine writing an author and receiving in return a 20 page letter explaining a point in fascinating detail!While no one in this life can ever again have the pleasure of writing to Tolkien and receiving a response, this book does make it possible to imagine what it must have been like to have done so, and provides a wealth of material for scholarly study and analysis as well.

Large and varied compilation of corrispondance
This is a large and quite diverse collection of correspondence.In it one sees Tolkien's views on both world wars, minute details of the publication process, answers to LOTR fans, as well as language, religion, and life in general.It is an astounding collection which helps show the intelligence, wisdom, and humanity of a literary (and scholarly) genius.

I found his discussions on LOTR material some of the less fascinating portions of this book, actually.A lot of this was correspondence over publication details, proofs, and the like. What there was about the series seemed more interesting from a process perspective than from a content one.

However, the works about fiction, discussing the nature of Middle Earth, etc. were quite another matter.These letters were quite interesting and provided a great insight into Tolkein's mind.

Another area I found interesting views was in the more general thoughts (mostly the letters to his relatives offering advice or thoughts about life in general).These I found to be filled with an immense wisdom as uncommon today as it was in Tolkein's time.

Highly recommended.Though if some correspondence bores you, skip that sort of correspondence.

More Revealing Than Most Biographies of Tolkien
In many ways a better biography of Tolkien than most biographies.While short of actual biographical data, the insight it gives into the mind of this man through dialogue with his readers, reveals much about his creative decisions in writing The Lord of the Rings and his other works.

My Bf loved it
I got this for my best friend b/c her whole family loves Tolkien so I thought after she was done reading it her whole family could read it too.
She really loves it. And It wasnt damaged in the siltiest and came on time. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (32)

Sigurd and Gudrun
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
Yes a modern retelling of one of our greatest Pagan sagas. Almost all modern tellers dilute, change and misrepresent our beliefs or worse try to replace them with rambling christen dogma. But this christen has the heart of a true Heathen. Hail! to the greatest story teller of his generation. This story's Heathenness comes shining thought in this telling. Come sit before the hall fire once again and hear of the deeds of our ancestors, from a master.

Unless you know the lore, it will confuse you.
Think with Tolkien lore, it's not for the novice.
It's a good book to have for any tolkien fan.

Satisfied.
Bought it for my son b/c it was on sale.My son enjoys it.

Mixed
This is very much a mixed bag.

Besides the scholarly apparatus, which isn't especially well-done or clear to anyone who hasn't (like, fortunately, I did) read the Elder Edda and Nibelungenlied several times through, the choice to format each half-line on a full line is really painful to the eyes and bloats up the book considerably.

Further, it makes the lines seem even more absurdly elliptical and gnomic and twisted.

The poetry itself sometimes is really good (I think one of the best passages is in the last section, starting 'In they hacked them, / out they hurled them'; the early description of Otr eating salmon isn't bad either), but mostly is a drag.

I only wish I could give more stars
I got the Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun last year when it came out, and it sat on the shelf for almost a year.Then, on a whim I decided to read it.

I knew this would be a different experience and a peak into Tolkien's professional work and interests.But this book encompasses so much more.The way Tolkien describes it in the beginning in a lecture he had prepared on the subject has stuck with me.He states that with certain works of literature/poetry it takes study and work to find meaning and grow to love them; and for others you either are caught by them immediately or not at all.

I had never heard the story of Sigurd or Sigfried or whatever you want to call him based on the many languages and translations.And boy was I hooked!It has everything anyone interested in fantasy could ever want in a tale.And it has such staying power, like a burning ember caught in the heart and mind.In some ways it comes to hold you in thrall.Since reading Tolkien's retelling of the tale, I have gone on to research and read many versions of the edda...such is the power of the story.

It is easy to see after reading this book how this could have such a profound effect on Tolkien, really forming a key foundation in his thought regarding mythology and tale-telling.And anyone familiar with his works in Middle Earth will find echoes in every word.

But there is more.Not only has Tolkien made a great piece of literary history available and approachable, he has managed to give it the same epic sound and rhythms of its original.I really recommend reading as much as you can or all of his epic poems aloud.It is amazing.

There is a lot of supplementary commentary and exposition in the book as well, which is sometimes interesting and helpful.To tell the truth, though, I skipped most of it besides the introductions.Really the true gem are the poems, both for Tolkien's masterful use of the English language and for the astonishing epic they tell. ... Read more

Product Description
The Treason of Isengard is the seventh volume in Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle-earth and the second in his account of the evolution of The Lord of the Rings. In this book, following the long halt in the darkness of the Mines of Moria with which The Return of the Shadow ended, is traced 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 the 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, the original meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed. Conceptions of what lay ahead are seen dissolving as the story took its own paths, as in the account of the capture of Frodo and his rescue by Sam Gmgee from Minas Morgul, written long before J.R.R. Tolkien actually came to that point in the writing of The Lord of the Rings. A chief feature of the book is a full account of the original Map, with re-drawings of successive phases, which was long the basis and accompaniment of the emerging geography of Middle-earth. An appendix to the book describes the Runic alphabets as they were at that time, with illustrations of the forms and an analysis of the Runes used in the Book of Mazarbul found beside Balin's Tomb in Moria. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Further Early Glimpses of The Lord of the Rings
This is volume 7 in The History of Middle earth series, Christopher Tolkien's effort to publish every word his father ever wrote about his invented world.

As with Volume 6, The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard should never be read as a first introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien's worlds.Only those who have read and loved The Lord of the Rings should attempt to read this fascinating but exhausting compilation of Tolkien's attempts to write what became The Lord of the Rings.

The story has now gone far beyond the mere treasure hunt Tolkien originally envisioned for "the New Hobbit."Now darker elements have appeared, and Bilbo's magic ring is fast becoming The One Ring.Familiar parts of the story are present, but often with unfamiliar names: Trotter, Ondor, Bingo, and so on.Nevertheless, the magic of Tolkien's prose and the spell of Middle earth is already apparent.

Read this and the other volumes with a patient eye, and you will be rewarded with thefresh realization of the thick layers that underly everything Tolkien ever wrote and published.

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

Finally, if you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

Note too that you can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in sets.

Excellent Examination of early drafts for Lord of the Rings.
`The Treason of Isengard' is the second of a four volume series (`The History of the Lord of the Rings') within a series, (volume VII of `The History of Middle Earth') edited by Christopher Tolkien, from the unpublished writings of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, most famous as the author of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings' (LotR).

While the first of this series within a series ended with the Fellowship standing over the tomb of Balin in Moria, this volume returns to drafts which go all the way back to the conversation between Gandalf and Bilbo in Bag End, following the great birthday party and Bilbo's disappearance following his final speech to his gathered celebrants. As such, for the part of the story between Bag End and Moria, the book contains a more tabular and `analytical' information on the various threads of the story, spending much time on the events which delayed Gandalf from returning to the Shire, explaining the title of the volume, since this circumstance was caused by Gandalf's imprisonment by Saruman. There is correspondingly less information on the events surrounding the encounter with Tom Bombadil, and, it seems, no new information on this very mysterious character.

Next to Bombadil, the most mysterious and ill-explained character in LotR, I think, is the Balrog, a massively evil being in Moria who seems to be controlled by neither Saruman nor Sauron, an evil spirit, probably older than either Shelob or Smaug, probably some evil creation of Melkor going back at least to the first or second age. And yet, there is little back-story on the Balrog. The only thing we can infer from the text is that it's power is just barely exceeded by a wizard (power augmented as it is by one of the elven rings). Even Peter Jackson's excellent depiction of the Fellowship's encounter with the Balrog contributes nothing to our insights on this spirit (except to provide the clear high point of the film, `The Fellowship of the Ring'.

This volume ends with the arrival of Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli at the halls of Edoras, the capitol of the Riders of Rohan. Therefore, it includes the escape from Moria, the encounter with Galadrial in Lorien, and the trip down the Great River, the Uruk-hai, the encounter with Treebeard, and the reuniting of Gandalf and `the three walkers'.

The second volume is every bit as good as the first of this series of early drafts, with its many chronological tables and early maps.

While this does overlap the first volume, I find nothing lost in reading `The Return of the Shadow' from front to back before starting `The Treason of Isengard'.

Note that the lag between this series and the final LotR text is resolved by the early drafts occupying four rather than three volumes.

I'm gonna be honest here, this book is not for EVERY fan of lord of the rings.
If you like the movie, the books, even if you like the first 5 books in the history of mi series, you still may not enjoy this.This I believe is only for the die hard tolkien fans.those of us trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking of each page he wrote, we won't get all his thoughts, but will be able to rea da lot of them.

I would suggest that you go to like barnes and noble and read the first 20 pages or so to see if it interests you.If it doesn't th is ok, you will still need to buy book 9, which you will be overpaying for becuase it's about 40 % the lord and only 60 % numenor and other stuff.

Though still essential for tolkien fans, this book is mainly for die hards.

Essential reading for the Tolkien scholar
"The Treason of Isengard" marks the second of four volumes dealing with the history of the writing of "The Lord of the Rings." Like the other volumes in the series, it features unpublished writings by Tolkien, supplemented, explained, footnoted, annotated and expounded upon by his son, Christopher Tolkien.

This book is also part of the larger, 12-part History of Middle Earth series, which takes a close look at the creation of Tolkien's greatest achievement - Middle Earth itself - through early drafts, unpublished texts, and dead end writings. For ardent Tolkien readers it is a fascinating look at one of the great literary creations of the 20th Century. For more casual fans, it's text better left unread.

If you're not a Tolkien fan, you need not apply to this sprawling series. But if you're interested in seeing how the Professor developed the rich creation of Middle Earth, warts and all, this is a treasure trove of material.

Here, like the first volume, we have the earliest versions of what would later become the most beloved fantasy epic in the world, detailing the extraordinary and convoluted history of the middle chapters of "The Lord of the Rings." The early versions of Treebeard, some fascinating ideas Tolkien abandoned regarding Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and other dead end plot threads will fascinate readers interesting in knowing about the epic's creation.

The wealth of information is fantastic, and Christopher Tolkien goes to great lengths to examine each text, putting them in the context of the larger puzzle of his father's writings. The exploration of how "The Lord of the Rings" came about is fantastic - for those interested. Otherwise, it will bore. This is, after all, a series of unfinished draft chapters and essays on the text. I enjoyed it, but many won't.

Anybody wishing to do a study of Tolkien's craft, into "behind the scenes" writings, or just interested in finding a few snatches of new Middle Earth material (even if in unfinished form, there are some scattered throughout the series) will certainly find what they are looking for here. Christopher Tolkien's work here is appreciated by scores of ardent Tolkien fans. Those looking for fresh new tales about hobbits and heroes, however, will be disappointed. This isn't new fiction, nor does it even feature finished works. Seek elsewhere if you are looking for more tales in the way of "The Lord of the Rings." ... Read more

Product Description
In this sixth volume of The History of Middle-earth the story reaches The Lord of the Rings. In The Return of the Shadow (an abandoned title for the first volume) Christopher Tolkien describes, with full citation of the earliest notes, outline plans, and narrative drafts, the intricate evolution of The Fellowship of the Ring and the gradual emergence of the conceptions that transformed what J.R.R. Tolkien for long believed would be a far shorter book, 'a sequel to The Hobbit'. The enlargement of Bilbo's 'magic ring' into the supremely potent and dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord is traced and the precise moment is seen when, in an astonishing and unforeseen leap in the earliest narrative, a Black Rider first rode into the Shire, his significance still unknown. The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed while his indentity remains an absolute puzzle, and the suspicion only very slowly becomes certainty that he must after all be a Man. The hobbits, Frodo's companions, undergo intricate permutations of name and personality, and other major figures appear in strange modes: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, a ferocious and malevolent Farmer Maggot.

The story in this book ends at the point where J.R.R. Tolkien halted in the story for a long time, as the Company of the Ring, still lacking Legolas and Gimli, stood before the tomb of Balin in the Mines of Moria. The Return of the Shadow is illustrated with reproductions of the first maps and notable pages from the earliest manuscripts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

The Shaping of Middle Earth
"The Return of the Shadow" is a fascinating work; it shows the shaping of Middle Earth as well as how J.R.R. Tolkien crafted his "Lord of the Rings" novels. If often repetitive, the book must to be so as Tolkien continued going through various drafts of the book. There are some interesting "what might have beens" that Tolkien tossed aside-Bilbo as the main character; instead of Aragorn a hobbit ranger by the name of Trotter would have guided the Ringbearer to Rivendell; no Legalos and Gimli in the Fellowship. If, to quote Edison's cliche, genius is 99% perspiration, this book clearly shows it. While Tolkien was full of ideas, he also painfully rewrote large segments of his epic saga. This book is not for everyone and its appeal will not extend beyond devout Tolkien fans though would be novelists may also find it useful. Christopher Tolkien is, for the most part, a solid narrator and editor but he can be a tad bit dry on occasion. Fans of his father are in his debt regardless for this interesting book.

The First Glimpse of The Lord of the Rings
This is actually Volume 6 in the History of Middle earth series, Christopher Tolkien's noteworthy attempt to publish every word his father wrote about his imagined world.

Buoyed by the success of The Hobbit after its publication in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien soon began a story he called "The New Hobbit".As originally planned, Bilbo Baggins was to go off on a new adventure.Eventually Bilbo became Bingo, then Frodo, and the new quest, at first meant to be only a search for more treasure, turned into a much darker story.

The fascinating thing about this volume and the others in the series which trace the history of the writing of The Lord of the Rings is the revelation of how often Tolkien started on an idea, grew dissatisfied, started another idea which also didn't please, and slowly but surely kept working away until he finally developed a satisfactory plot.

While I hope no one is ever given this volume or any others in the History of Middle earth series as a first introduction to Tolkien, they are an invaluable resource for those of us who have read, reread, and actually dwelt in the world of The Lord of the Rings.

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

Finally, if you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

Note too that you can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in sets.

Great Look behind the scenes. Far better than earlier volumes
`The Return of the Shadow' is the first of a four volume series (`The History of the Lord of the Rings') within a series, (volume VI of `The History of Middle Earth') edited by Christopher Tolkien, from the unpublished writings of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, most famous as the author of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings'.

For those who have been slogging through the previous three volumes dealing with fragments from the composition of `The Silmarillion', this volume is a great pleasure, as it deals entirely with early drafts of what becomes the first two-thirds of `The Fellowship of the Ring' (FR), the first volume of the great `The Lord of the Rings' (LotR). It begins at the beginning of FR and ends as the fellowship stand in the mines of Moria over the grave marked `Balin Son of Burin, Lord of Moria' (The dramatic encounter between Gandalf and the Balrog will have to wait until the next volume).

For those of you who may have read `The Lord of the Rings' only once or twice, this and the next three volumes in this series are an enormous treat, as reading this is far more rewarding than a second or third reading of LotR, and will make that second or third reading even more interesting. For those of us who have read LotR for ten or twelve times, and have seen Peter Jackson's films of same more times than I care to count, the interest tends to wane just a bit, as the percentage of entirely new material is small compared to early versions of text which appeared in the final volumes.

What I really looked forward to in these volumes was some insight into my second most favorite character, after Gandalf, and this would be the perpetual Middle Earth hippie, Tom Bombadil and his consort, Goldberry. Unfortunately, this book does not through a lot of light on Bombadil's origins. Thankfully, it also does not violate any of my lengthily speculations on where Bombadil fits into the history of Middle Earth and the cosmology of the world in which Middle Earth is set. The heart of the matter is that Bombadil is one of the very few true natives of Middle Earth. The elves are clearly immigrants from the Far West. Dwarves and men seem to be creations of the Valar, and orcs and trolls are perversions of elves, men, and dwarves made by Melkor or Sauron. He is certainly not one of the Valar, as nothing said about his lack of interest in The Ring would be true of a Valar. Similarly, he is certainly not a wizard, one of Gandalf's clan, the Istari. The fact is, Tolkien senior simply added him in as a `deux ex machina', pinch hitting for Gandalf in a way, to get the wandering hobbits out of two jams with powers far greater than their own, so that they can safely reach Bree and the assistance of Strider. And, it turns out Tolkien simply wanted to include Bombadil and Goldberry since he had written of them in earlier publications!

One thing that does come out is the fact that the minor character, Farmer Maggot is potentially a far more interesting character than may appear on the surface. For example, Tom Bombadil seems to get most of his information about the outside world from Farmer Maggot and there is a suspicion in this narrative that Maggot is not entirely `hobbit' bred. This is not too unusual, as there has always been a suspicion that the three strains of hobbits are a result of a bit on interbreeding with elves and dwarves (but you didn't hear that from me!). One thing about Maggot which tickles my fancy is that his physical description here is a strong image of the Pennsylvania Amish and Mennonite farmers, which fits perfectly into the land around the Brandywine and the cultivation of mushrooms, both features of southeastern Pennsylvania, the home of the very same Pennsylvania Dutch. And yet, editor Christopher seems to make no mention of this obvious connection.

Being a true fanatic, even little things about these books will please me to no end. One thing, among others, which makes me think that Peter Jackson used these books in his writing the screenplay for the movies is the similarity between the picture of Bag End and the surrounding Shire and Bag End as it appeared in FR. I'm also thrilled by the additional original Tolkien maps, as well as the usually excellent index to the volume. I look forward to a composite index covering the whole four volumes of the `History of the Lord of the Rings' series.

The greatest impact of this volume comes from the smallest note in the beginning. After all the preparation done on the history of Middle Earth, Tolkien senior still had no notion of what he will find in Bree, who or what was Strider, or any notion of the design of Moria until he actually reached these characters and events in his writing.

I hate to give this only 4 stars, but too much repitition.
I was hoping that this would give like amny differnent versions of these books, but it tends just to show you the evolution and showing you the rewritings of early chapters of the lord and some of them like the council of elrond show you like 6 different versions.Every version a new character will show up, somebody will turn from good to evil, or maybe their words will be given to some one else.

I guess I was just hoping that this would be more like the previous 5 books and give us new stuff like they did of the silmarillion.But it did provide me with enough new info and some pretty exciting evolutions in this. ... Read more

Product Description
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) renowned author of THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE SILMARILLION, was an artist in pictures as well as in words. Though he often remarked that he had no talent for drawing, his art has charmed his readers and has been exhibited to large and appreciative audiences the world over. In fact, his talent was far more than he admitted, and his sense of design was natural and keen.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN: ARTIST & ILLUSTRATOR explores Tolkien's art at length, from his childhood paintings and drawings to his final sketches. At its heart are his illustrations for his books, especially his tales of Middle-earth. Also examined are the pictures Tolkien made for his children, his expressive calligraphy, his love of decoration, and his contributions to the typography and design of his books.
With 200 reproductions, many in full colour, this lavishly-produced book offers a perfect opportunity for anyone wishing to discover a largely unexplored aspect of J.R.R. Tolkien's character. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Lovely and insightful
What a talented artist! Beautiful work that reveals much about Tolkien and his writing. Lots of biographical commentary, too.

Must have for Tolkien fans!
Beautiful book that showcases Tolkien's artistic talent while giving insight into Tolkien's creative process.Be sure to get it in hardcover!

Perfect companion work to his writing
While not close to being a world renowned visual artist in comparison to his writing, having Tolkien's honest, raw artwork celebrated in this book does the man good justice.Not only does this book cover Tolkien's famed cover illustrations for his early prints of The Hobbit, etc, it also showcases early work of his as a child and in-between.It's beautiful insight into his creative well.I used to check this paperback out from my library every week as a child, and was delighted to find it online and finally own it for myself.

A wonderful book for any Tolkien fan, and those wishing to know another creative side of the writer.

Author and Illustrator!
J.R.R. Tolkien was a great author (millions of readers can attest to that). His talents, however, weren't confined to the written word. Professor Tolkien was also a proficient artist and illustrator. His illustrations graced the cover of each book of the "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) trilogy (paperback) in the early 80s -- when I first read the series. I was unaware at the time that the the covers were reproductions of the author's handiwork. The art enhanced my LOTR 'experience' (for me, an '80s teen, Tolkien's books were portals to alternate realities and were not simply good reads). "J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator" does, of course, present the expected, and I daresay obligatory, snapshots of Tolkien's vision of Middle Earth. However, it isn't limited to the vast expanse of that realm. The book also provides insights into what inspired many of his other artistic endeavors and shows many of the fruits of that inspiration. Truth be told, I purchased this book primarily for the eye candy. The commentary is an added bonus -- like a colorful eye candy wrapper imprinted with ingredients. If you like Tolkien, art and escapism, this book is for you.

For Every Tolkein Fan
This book contains J.R.R. Tolkein's artwork (the stuff he did himself).This provides unique glimpses into Middle Earth the way he saw it (as other reviewers have mentioned).

Additionally, this work contains many non-Middle-Earth-related works. The section on his early works help clarify his other paintings by providing an artistic sense of the world around him, and the section on artwork for children is helpful too (includes pieces from "Roverandum" among others).

This is not just finished art though.There are sketches on letters or notes, for example, and one case of color doodles on a newspaper classified section (I found this one particularly amusing).

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
In volumes ten and eleven of The History of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien recounts from the original texts the evolution of his father's work on The Silmarillion, the legendary history of the Elder Days or First Age, from the completion of the Lord of the Rings in 1949 until J.R.R. Tolkien's death. In volume ten, Morgoth's Ring, the narrative was taken only as far as the natural dividing point in the work, when Morgoth destroyed the Trees of Light and fled from Valinor bearing the stolen Silmarils. In The War of the Jewels, the story 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 of J.R.R. Tolkien's later narrative writing concerned with the last centuries of the First Age, the long history of The Silmarillion, from its beginnings in The Book of Lost Tales, is completed; the enigmatic state of the work at his death can now be understood. A chief element in The War of the Jewels is a major story of Middle-earth, now published for the first time - a continuation of the great "saga" of Turin Turambar and his sister Nienor, the children of Hurin the Steadfast. This is the tale of the disaster that overtook the forest people of Brethil when Hurin came among them after his release from long years of captivity in Angband, the fortress of Morgoth. The uncompleted text of the Grey Annals, the primary record of the War of the Jewels, is given in full; the geography of Beleriand is studied in detail, with redrawings of the final state of the map; and a long essay on the names and relations of all the peoples of Middle-earth shows more clearly than any writing yet published the close connection between the language and history in Tolkien's world. The text also provides new information, including some knowledge of the divine powers, the Valar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

fascinating, a must for true tolkien fans
While the Christopher Tolkien commentary is somewhat laborious, the actual texts from JRR's manuscripts are absolute treasures, and the commentaries do manage to put things into context- if you can get through them.Definitely for hard core uber-nerds only.

The Genesis of The Silmarillion, Part 2
This is volume 11 in The History of Middle earth series, Christopher Tolkien's magisterial effort to publish every word his father wrote about his imagined worlds.

This volume in the History series, along with its immediate predecessor, chronicles the later development of the Silmarillion.Most of the material was written just before and after the publication of The Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, and thus represents Tolkien's later writings on the subject.No one new to Tolkien should begin by picking up any volume of the History, particularly this one and its predecessor, lest they be lost in what seems a sea of abstruse controversy and discovery.But those who have already read and fallen in love with The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion and wish to know more about the creative mind behind their creation will be richly rewarded by reading the entire History.

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V, EARLY TALES

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX, LORD OF THE RINGS

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI, THE SILMARILLION

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX, WRAP-UP

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

******

If you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

******

I hope this helps you to select wisely based on your own interests. You can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in sets. You can also save by buying the Ballantine mass-market paperback instead of the Houghton Mifflin trade paperback edition, although the former may have smaller type and you may need to use both hands to keep it open while you read.

TWOTJ
The discription did not say that this was completely made up of paragraph revisions.Very dissapointed

Drafts of 'The Silmarillion' Part II. Lesser of the two
'Morgoth's Ring' and 'The War of the Jewels' are both collections of draft material which would become the postumously published 'The Silmarillion'. In that sense, they stand in the same relation to 'The Silmarillion' as Volumes VI through IX of 'The History of Middle Earth' stand to 'The Lord of the Rings'. The difference is that while Tolkien senior himself published LotR, 'The Silmarillion' was incomplete at the time of Tolkien's death, so these are commentaries on an imcomplete work. If, like me, you compulsively buy everything with Tolkien's name on it, this will make no differnce. But, if, like me, you find the story of the Valar and the origins of the elves in general to be the most interesting part of 'The Silmarillion, then you will find 'Morgoth's Ring' the more interesting of the two volumes. In the end, both volumes add more pieces to that great, but slightly ephemeral quality of deep historicity which makes LoTR and 'The Hobbit' stand head, shoulders, and chest above virtually every other fantasy fiction ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
In The War of the Ring Christopher Tolkien takes up the story of the writing of The Lord of the Rings with the Battle of Helm's Deep and the drowning of Isengard by the Ents. This is followed by an account of how Frodo, Sam and Gollum were finally brought to the Pass of Kirith Ungol, at which point J.R.R. Tolkien wrote at the time: 'I have got the hero into such a fix that not even an author will be able to extricate him without labour and difficulty'. Then comes the war in Gondor, and the book ends with the parley between Gandalf and the ambassador of the Dark Lord before the Black Gate of Mordor.

In describing his intentions for The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien said that 'It will probably work out very differently from this plan when it really gets written, as the thing seems to write itself once it gets going'; and in The War of the Ring totally unforeseen developmenst 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, though I like him, but there he came walking into 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Further Glimpses of Middle earth And Its Evolution
This is Volume 8 in The History of Middle earth series, Christopher Tolkien's monumental effort to publish every word his father wrote about his invented world.

As with the previous two volumes, The War of the Ring is a compilation of the many writings and rewritings the story which is now fast becoming The Lord of the Rings underwent in the late 1930s and 1940s.J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the world's great writers and his own most severe critic.He was not satisfied with good enough, he patiently worked and reworked his story, adding characters, subtracting characters, and allowing the tale to evolve in new and unexpected directions.In this volume we meet the Ents and Faramir for the first time, among some of the most welcome introductions.

No one new to Tolkien should read this or any other volume in The History of Middle earth.They are for those of us who have first read and fallen in love with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and who can thus appreciate the vast labor of love that was its creation.

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

Finally, if you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

Note too that you can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in sets.

Awesome
Looks like it is going to be a great book haven't read it yet but I know it well be great cause it is going to tell me about the war just have to get their is all. Great condtion by the way.

Notes from Isengard to Mordor's Gates. Fabulous
`The War of the Ring' is the third of a four volume series (`The History of the Lord of the Rings') within a series, (volume VIII of `The History of Middle Earth') edited by Christopher Tolkien, from the unpublished writings of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, most famous as the author of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings' (LotR).

This thick volume, larger than `The Return of the King' begins with the destruction of Isengard by the Ents and Saruman's downfall (sort of) at the hands of Gandalf. The editor brings us at the end of this volume to the climax of the conflict between the forces of the West and Sauron, over the fate of the `One Ring'. Thus, it spans the last third of `The Two Towers and the first three-fourths of `The Return of the King'.

Being an inveterate lover of maps, this volume is especially interesting, as it has lots of original maps penned by J.R.R. Tolkien himself, plus line drawings of important locations in the story, primarily Minas Tirith and Cirith Ungol. The largest map is of Mordor and Gondor, with a very nice `legend' explaining all the major features of the lands, especially those south of the White mountains which get very little mention in the LotR itself.

One sidelight of this review of the drafts is to see how the names and characteristics of minor characters changed from Tolkien's original conception to their appearance in the final work. The Huorns, the semi-senescent trees `herded' by the ents appear under the name of `Galbedirs'.

If you have found your way through the first two volumes of this `The History of the Lord of the Rings', you can't stop now. This volume contains notes on what certainly the most important part of the narrative.

I almost feel like giving this a 3, but it's tolkien for god's sake
I knew what to expect after reading the first 2, but this one I though picked it up a little bit and wa more informative.This book differs a little bit from part 1, it doesn't just givre you like all 10 versions of a certain chapter, maybe it is judt that tolkien quit writing so many drafts when he was getting close, or maybe christopher realized he was trying to put all this info into 3 books.So this one REALLY progresses unlike the last two.

If you made it through the first 2, you will be pleasantly surprised.

One thing that I though was very interesting is that peter jackson went the same way in making these movies as tolkien did with his books.Of course jackson had all the info already in front of him, but just like tolkien does in the lord's evolution, jackson will take lines spoken by say aragorn and give them to gandalf or faramir.

Another thing I found interesting is that I had a problem with the way jackson had denethor just show up at the end with the palantir in hands with no explanation, well THIS IS THE WAY TOLKIEN ACTUALLY FIRST WROTE IT.Obviously setting it up a little bit, and letting us know that he uses it sometimes in the book is a much better way of writing this part of the book.But it still shows you that even if peter didn't read all the history books, and say him and jrr directed the movie together, I think that tolkien would have found it very acceptable, and I guarantee it would exceed his expectations.

So a must have if you read the previous 2 parts in this series, but maybe only for tolkien die hards. ... Read more

Product Description
In Morgoth's Ring, the tenth volume of The History of Middle-earth and the first of two companion volumes, Christopher Tolkien describes and documents the legends of the Elder Days, as they were evolved and transformed by his father in the years before he completed The Lord of the Rings. The text of the Annals of Aman, the "Blessed Land" in the far West, is given in full. And in writings never before published, we can see the nature of the problems that J.R.R. Tolkien explored in his later years as new and radical ideas, portending upheaval in the heart of the mythology. At this time Tokien sought to redefine the old legends, and wrote of the nature and destiny of Elves, the idea of Elvish rebirth, the origins of the Orcs, and the Fall of Men. His meditation of mortality and immortality as represented in the lives of Men and Elves led to another major writing at this time, the "Debate of Finrod and Andreth," which is reproduced here in full. "Above all," Christopher Tolkien writes in his foreward, "the power and significance of Melkor-Morgoth...was enlarged to become the ground and source of the corruption of Arda." This book indeed is all about Morgoth. Incomparably greater than the power of Sauron, concentrated in the One Ring, Morgoth's power (Tolkien wrote) was dispersed into the very matter of Arda: "The whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

The Genesis of The Silmarillion
This is volume 10 in the History of Middle earth series, Christopher Tolkien's massive effort to publish every word his father ever wrote on his invented world.

Only Tolkien's most dedicated readers should read The History of Middle earth series, and certainly no one new to Tolkien should be given them first.This is particularly true of Morgoth's Ring, which deals with material which was later to become The Silmarillion, posthumously published in 1977 and often criticized for being too much of a summary.As with the writing of The Lord of the Rings, we see here Tolkien the niggler, writing and rewriting, seemingly never satisfied until finally achieving a great final product.But its exactly that painstaking attention to detail that makes Tolkien so superior to others who seek to produce fantasy, and makes The History of Middle earth so invaluable.

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

Finally, if you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

Note too that you can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in sets.

Morgoths rng
Most of book is made up of paragraph sized revisions, which was if I remember correctly not stated in book description.A portion of this book gives details and insigts that are just spectacular.

Drafts of 'The Silmarillion' Part I
'Morgoth's Ring' and 'The War of the Jewels' are both collections of draft material which would become the postumously published 'The Silmarillion'. In that sense, they stand in the same relation to 'The Silmarillion' as Volumes VI through IX of 'The History of Middle Earth' stand to 'The Lord of the Rings'. The difference is that while Tolkien senior himself published LotR, 'The Silmarillion' was incomplete at the time of Tolkien's death, so these are commentaries on an imcomplete work. If, like me, you compulsively buy everything with Tolkien's name on it, this will make no differnce. But, if, like me, you find the story of the Valar and the origins of the elves in general to be the most interesting part of 'The Silmarillion, then you will find 'Morgoth's Ring' the more interesting of the two volumes. In the end, both volumes add more pieces to that great, but slightly ephemeral quality of deep historicity which makes LoTR and 'The Hobbit' stand head, shoulders, and chest above virtually every other fantasy fiction ever written.

Not for the casual reader
This book is for serious Tolkien scholars, not the casual Lord of The Rings fan.Christopher Tolkien's analysis can be mind numbing, so if you're not looking for that kind of depth, stick to The Silmarillion. ... Read more

Product Description
A New York Times bestseller for twenty-one weeks upon publication, UNFINISHED TALES is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and further relates events as told in THE SILMARILLION and THE LORD OF THE RINGS.
The book concentrates on the lands of Middle-earth and comprises Gandalf's lively account of how he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the story of the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan and the journey of the Black Riders during the hunt for the Ring.
UNFINISHED TALES also contains the only surviving story about the long ages of Númenor before its downfall, and all that is known about the Five Wizards sent to Middle-earth as emissaries of the Valar, about the Seeing Stones known as the Palantiri, and about the legend of Amroth.
Writing of the Appendices to THE LORD OF THE RINGS, J.R.R. Tolkien said in 1955, "Those who enjoy the book as a 'heroic romance' only, and find 'unexplained vistas' part of the literary effect, will neglect the Appendices, very properly." UNFINISHED TALES is avowedly for those who, to the contrary, have not yet sufficiently explored Middle-earth, its languages, its legends, it politics, and its kings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (92)

Treasure chest of stories
After reading the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, I was looking for more tales of the first and second ages.Bingo!The stories in this book flesh out some of the smaller tales in the Silm and give backstory on some of the characters and adventures in the LotR and Hobbit.

As a history buff, I loved the way this book was put together - lots of footnotes and asides - but this could make it hard to read for some.I enjoyed reading Christopher Tolkien's explanations of why certain things were chosen and his questions on the text.The tale of Aldarion and Erendis was an interesting character study (if a touch soap-opera-ish), and the information on the Druedain made me look at Ghan-buri-Ghan in a new light.I loved the tale of the children of Hurin for its archaism and sorrow, and the story of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin for some nice backstory on Earendil's father.

If you enjoy reading chronicle-style books, or books of short stories, and you'd like a peek into the mind of JRRT, you should enjoy this book.If you're looking for a novel, look elsewhere.

Well, I certainly CAN'T Give It 5 Stars, or 4 Stars...
...but I guess I CAN Give It 3 Stars. Without any doubt, the Highlight of the Book is "The Quest of Erebor" Chapter, where Gandalf explains to Frodo, Gimli, Pippin and Merry how Bilbo was selected to join Thorin Oakenshield and Company in their quest in "The Hobbit". Every explanation Gandalf gives is crystal clear; and Frodo, Gimli and Pippin are absolutely in character with every word each of them speaks (poor Merry's contribution is a bit smaller, but the chapter is still enjoyable). Far less enjoyable however, is the AWFUL "Aldarion and Emeris" chapter, which has just about the most mismatched lovers it has ever been My sorry experience to have to endure. Not a SINGLE character in that chapter emerges as particularly lovable, likable or admirable, both including the two main protaganist's, and their awful BITCH of a daughter! And the dialogue (i.e. "It bodes no Good!", and "Why My Daughter, Why?") is the most stilted, hackneyed, corny crap; it's like something out of an old Gay Nineties Melodrama, (the kind with a villain all dressed in black, curling his oily moustache). If this is what the people of Numenor were like, I'm glad it sank! I also found Turin Turambar to be a VERY unsympathetic hero, especially after killing Brandir. However, the last couple of chapters dealing with the Wizards (or Istari) and the Palantir Seeing Stones are very good and informative. I guess this book is worth reading at least once if You're a Tolkien Fan, but maybe You'd be wiser to borrow it from the Library.

Good Reading
I'm enjoying reading through the stories and connecting Tolkien's brilliant storytelling with the rest of the world he imagined.It's well worth it.

Beautiful
This book is a must for any serious Tolkien fan. Like the name suggests, it's a host of 'unfinished tales' that flesh-out the history of Middle-Earth. The 20th anniversary edition has a beautiful dust jacket (illustration by J. R. R. Tolkien), a fold-out map in the back which is easy to access, and the binding and paper quality seem quite solid to me. Nicely done!

One warning I'll give to any novice Tolkien readers is that you should have already read the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings before attempting to read this if you really want to understand it and at the same time not spoil the other said books. Again, a must for the truly die-hard Tolkien fan!

Unfinished, essential
J.R.R. Tolkien's tales of Middle-Earth weren't restricted just to fantasy epic "Lord of the Rings." His life's work was spread over hundreds of stories and invented legends -- some were compiled into "The Silmarillion."

But some were left over -- yes, there were even more stories that didn't make the cut. These little odd bits make up "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth." The stories are not as interconnected as the Silmarillion was, but they are a solid and enjoyable read.

Tolkien presents stories spanning Middle-Earth's history, with dragons and mythical heroes like Turin, background information on Elf queen Galadriel and her husband Celeborn, and different accounts of searches for the One Ring, including more exposition about the wizard-turned-bad Saruman and the other Istari.

There are also essays about palantiri, wizards, and the family line of Elrond's mortal brother Elros. Best among these is a "lost chapter" where Gandalf talks to Frodo about the Dwarves, which wouldn't have quite fit into the final novel, but is a good read anyway.

This isn't a novel, or even a sort of pseudo-history like "Silmarillion." It's more like a patchwork quilt of little odd bits that don't belong anywhere else. Anybody who hasn't read "Silmarillion," "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" will be hopelessly lost. But those who have read and understood those books will eat these right up -- there's plenty of info about favorite characters like Gandalf, Galadriel, and the heroes and villains from Tolkien's sprawling epics.

Tolkien's vivid writing is shown in its different states here -- there's the stately semi-mythic writing, and the more intimate conversational style of "Lord of the Rings." He even dabbles briefly in first-person storytelling through the eyes of Frodo Baggins -- something which, obviously, didn't take. Lots of details and ethereally evocative descriptions make it all come alive.

"Unfinished Tales" is a fill-in-the-gaps sort of book, and Tolkien's storytelling genius still shines through in this disjointed collection of essays, bits and pieces. For those hungering for more Middle-Earth. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (694)

Tolkien Rocks!!!
What can I say, it's Tolken and this is a must have companion for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The book is more of a study than a simple read for those who want to know more information about the history of Middle-Earth.

The first history book for a fantasy world
Tolkien in The Silmarillion showed the true love and effort he poured into creating the Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth. Not just a story set in a slapdash setting, he created Middle Earth literally from nothing. Paralleling the Bible in more ways than one, the Silmarillion begins with Middle Earth being created by one all powerful God, Iluvatar. Among his servants is Morgoth, he who turned to evil out of jealousy of Iluvatar and sought to sow discord in the harmony of Iluvatar's creations. So sets the stage for the creation of the world in which the Lord of the Rings would be set. Not just the planet and its various creatures created by Iluvatar's loyal servants, the Valar, but also the creation of all the monsters and hateful things which Morgoth created or perverted from things already existing. Serving as the foil not just of the Valar but also the beings created by them to rule the world, the Elves and their lesser cousins the Dwarves and Humans, Morgoth epitomizes the devil, even spending many centuries lurking in underground realms of his own creation and creating his dark armies and fomenting dissent and deceit among the Elves and Men and Dwarves.

Specifically, the book contains the creation of the world, the tale of the Silmarils, jewels of unmatched beauty but carrying a curse, stolen by Morgoth and held by him for ages. The jewels bring ruin to all those who hold or seek them. Spanning centuries, they lead to the downfall of the Elf civilization on Middle Earth, forcing the bulk of the Elves to depart for the West long before the Rings were created. The following tale is of Sauron, chief lieutenant of Morgoth, who corrupts the Numenoreans from their peaceful coexistence with the Elves of the West, and leads them to their own ruin by turning to worship of Morgoth. Finally comes the tale of Sauron creating the Rings and the background to the Lord of the Rings is completed.

The book is not possessed of a true plot, and it's not supposed to any more than any other history book will possess. Rather, it presents the facts of the creation of the world, the rise and fall of the Elves and Men, the history of the Dwarves in their interactions with the other two races, the creation of the various evil races, the conflict not just between the Elves and the minions of evil but also between the higher beings of the Valar in their own ranks and how that was the downfall of the goodly races time and again. There are tales of heroes, tragic sacrifice and grand betrayal. Truly, in examining each vignette individually, there are stories with plot and resolution and all the aspects one might find in an anthology, but this is not true for all such chapters and sections of the book. There are two maps included, but due to the small size of paperback pages, these maps are poor and all the places referred to time and again in the text are not to be found on them. This is the only reason I awarded four stars instead of five. More than anything else, reading this makes on appreciate the backstory of the film trilogy and respect the effort of Jackson to stay true to the source material, which he very much did.

One of a kind wonder
I have read this book dozens of times over the years.I loved it from the very first time I read it as a teenager.It is one of the most amazing works of fiction I have ever read.Eddings created an amazing world on a grand scale, yet it pales to the Middle Earth created by Tolkien.The Silmarillion transports you to a place of wonder filled with love, honor, treachery, good, evil, courage, faith, spirit and dozens more qualities that define man.Yes, Mr. Tolkien was a devote believer in God and this book reflects it.And because of that, if you give it a chance, it will take you to a place insider yourself that few books other than the Bible can.Could some find it boring? Of course, some also find Lord of the Rings boring.Is it dry? Yes, in parts it is dry.But if you take the time and energy to really read it, you will see a richness that is missing from all but the greatest of books.The stories are so grand and full of goodness I have begun retelling them, after some editing, to my 4 year old daughter.She loves them and can't get enough of them as I put her to bed.I think this shows how universal these stories are.The represent the best and worst of man, but in the end, the good guys win.And isn't that how it should be.

Wonderful read - and reread, and reread, and reread
The Silmarillion is Tolkien's seminal work.The Hobbit and especially the Lord of the Rings Trilogy have it as their foundation.

This one is told, intentionally, in an archaic form as old tales.Tolkien wrote the stories as the Elves lore, the Elves interpretation of history as they knew or understood it.Many of the tales are from long before the Elves came into being.It isn't easy reading - just read it through the first time.You will 'get' so much more with the second read.There is a podcast of college-level lectures from the TolkienProfessor - I subscribed to them on iTunes. You can go to his website for a link, just put a dot com after that.The lectures are a great help and lots of fun for a Tolkien fan!

The ancient history of Middle-Earth
An epic backstory to the classic fantasy tales. Mr. Tolkien's vision is apparent throughout and what a vision it was. The tales of the ages before "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are just as massive and even more tragic, which makes the tales within this book so much more powerful. The tale of Beren and Luthien is just as beautiful as any of the great tragic romances. And the way the narrative is constructed adds this feeling of glory and splendor to the elves of old. And the tale of Numenor is awesome too. The only drawback to this book is that it takes a lot of time to get to the good stuff. The beginning isn't unimportant, but it is a little dry. It's not until the rebellion Feanor and the later chapters that it really picks up. No matter what, this is a great pick for any fantasy reader. ... Read more

Product Description

The dwarves' goal is to return to their ancestral home in the LonelyMountains and reclaim a stolen fortune from the dragon Smaug. Alongthe way, they and their reluctant companion meet giant spiders,hostile elves, ravening wolves--and, most perilous of all, asubterranean creature named Gollum from whom Bilbo wins a magical ringin a riddling contest. It is from this life-or-death game in the darkthat J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork, The Lordof the Rings, would eventually spring. Though TheHobbit is lighter in tone than the trilogy that follows, it has,like Bilbo Baggins himself, unexpected iron at its core. Don't befooled by its fairy-tale demeanor; this is very much a story foradults, though older children will enjoy it, too. By the time Bilboreturns to his comfortable hobbit-hole, he is a different personaltogether, well primed for the bigger adventures to come--and so isthe reader. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1905)

Great book!
What a book! Anyone who is a fan of Tolkien or fantasy novel should never miss this. It is humorous, clever, interesting, creative and inspiring. Never regret buying this!

Best book I never read until now!
Between 2001 and 2003 I became a fan of Peter Jackson's movie version of "Lord of the Rings".Since it was shot in New Zealand I got to see a lot of the country's scenery as well as enjoying a masterpiece of film.When reading a copy of Tolkien's original work sometime later I read "Fellowship of the Ring" all the way through but something about Tolkien's writing style caused me to lose interest after I started "The Two Towers".The fact I'd seen the movies was likely the reason, since I knew how the story went.After reading "The Hobbit" I might have to read "Lord of the Rings" in its entirety to see the differences between Tolkien's work and the Peter Jackson films (I'm sure both Tolkien's and Jackson's work are masterpieces of literature/film).

While reading "The Hobbit" I could see/hear in my mind the faces/voices of Ian McKellan, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm and Andy Serkis (who played Gandalf, Elrond, Bilbo, and Gollum, respectively, in the films).I heard these actors had agreed to reprice their roles from Lord of the Rings one more time for "The Hobbit" (not sure about Ian Holm).It's too bad about the rights to a "Hobbit" movie remaining in legal limbo, but Tolkien's work is a literary masterpiece and I'm so happy I finally read it.

Where are the AUDIOBOOK reviews?
I'm looking for reviews of the audiobook. AMAZON, Whazzup?These are all reviews for the book, actually for several different versions of the book.Not very helpful!

Can't believe I didn't read it sooner!
Summary

Bilbo Baggins is comfortable in his snug, happy hobbit-hole in the side of a hill where he has lived all his life. One morning after a hearty breakfast, the wizard Gandalf arrives, and that's when the trouble begins. Gandalf ends up inviting a flummoxing total of twelve dwarves over for tea the next day. The dwarves are on a mission to reclaim the glory and riches once held by their forefathers, but they need a "burglar" to help, and hobbits are small, stealthy creatures.

Bilbo joins their party on a whim after being teased by the dwarves and praised by Gandalf for his yet-unknown abilities. He soon regrets his decision when the rolling fields past his home turn into a dark, foreign country, and he doubts that he has what it takes to carry out an adventure of this magnitude.

As Bilbo meets (and is captured by) trolls, goblins, wolves, spiders, and wood-elves, he begins to use his practicality to his advantage; when engaged in riddles with Gollum under the mountain, for instance, his wit saves him from a very unfortunate end. And he puts his riddling skill to use with Smaug the Dragon as well, using their conversation as a chance to scope out the dragon's weakness.

Happy scenes are interspersed throughout the tale to keep Bilbo from despairing entirely; they rest at the Last Homely House as the guest of a friendly elf, the noble eagles of the mountain come to their rescue more than once; they find a faithful friend in Beorn, who is usually gruff and wary of visitors; and the men of Lake-town herald their arrival to oust Smaug the Dragon from the dwarves' ancestral mountain.

But more often than not--and certainly more than he would like!--it is small, hearth-loving Bilbo who ends up saving the day, when he and his friends are faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Bilbo grows from a homebody to a hero with "a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck."

Analysis

The Hobbit is one of the best books I've read all year.

I know. I know! People have told me all my life that I need to read The Hobbit. But I always protested, claiming that I didn't like fantasy because there wasn't enough reality in it to "connect" to. Where I got this idea, I don't know--possibly from my brothers' fantastical explanations of Tolkien's books, which sounded far too removed from me to be interesting.

As it turns out, The Hobbit is so widely regarded by readers of all stripes because of its humanity, its down-to-earth humor, and its realism. Who would've thought? (Everyone but me, I suppose.)

As Michael D.C. Drout explains in The Modern Scholar: Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature, applying Marxist theory to the story helps to understand its appeal: Bilbo represents the bourgeoisie, the trolls are members of the Cockney-accented working class, and Smaug the Dragon is the ruling class, literally rolling in riches. Tolkien himself was certainly no stranger to literature and theory, with a history of Anglo-Saxon epic poem translation under his belt. He incorporates themes common to Middle Age conquests while also sprinkling the book with a healthy dose of modern-day humor.

Bilbo is an unexpected hero, the everyman who saves the day more than once. Though often he seems primarily occupied with eating breakfast, maintaining a tidy appearance, and yearning for his soft bed far from these dangerous adventures, he keeps a cool head when he and the dwarves seemed faced with certain doom. In fact, Bilbo's practical considerations are often what save them; while the dwarves stubbornly refuse to tell the Elf-King the purpose of their quest, which leads to their imprisonment, Bilbo cleverly rescues them, though his unorthodox methods produce more than a few grumbles among the dwarves.

Bilbo is an incredibly likeable character with whom I can closely identify; who doesn't love a second breakfast? On a deeper level, Bilbo's moral ambiguity makes him a realistic hero; when he is bargaining with the men and the elves that are preparing to battle against the dwarves, who have become offensively greedy, he begins by complaining that the entire matter has made him uncomfortable and cranky, and he offers goods stolen from the dwarves to appease the other side.

The Hobbit originated as a story Tolkien told his children, and the excellent narrative style and the thrilling twists and turns took me back to the days when my parents would read me bedtime stories. I felt like running from the hulking, humped figures of the goblins, and I shivered at the enormous hairy spiders of Milkwood Forest.

Because of its intensely imaginative plot and Tolkien's masterful literary execution, The Hobbit is one of those few books that are equally attractive to kids and adults alike. But you probably already knew that!

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One of the greates books of all time
If you love adventure or just a fantastic story I highly recomend that you read this book.I have read it three times in about five years and will porbably read it a bunch more.It is captivating and a fantastic read. ... Read more

Product Description
THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH
Poems and prose, maps and chronologies, detours and diversions along the road to Middle-earth . . . Christopher Tolkien has gathered archival materials that his late father, J. R. R. Tolkien, used to create the world and the history behind his classic stories.
THE EVOLUTION OF A WORLD
This fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth presents early versions of those first tales, from the creation myth to the fall of Morgoth. Writings include a chronology of the events in Beleriand, the first Silmarillion map, and the only known description of the physical nature of Middle-earth's universe. Detailed annotations highlight changes ranging from the spelling of Elvish names to pivotal emendations whose effects reach even to the war of the ring.
The Shaping of Middle-earth presents a solid framework by which to trace the development of the early lore of Middle-earth. It is a truly indispensable reference work for those familiar with the history of that endlessly beloved land--and fascinating reading for those just entering that world.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complexas Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth seriesas those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.


GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V, EARLY TALES

These five volumes deal primarily Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986). As you might guess by the title, in this book Christopher describes how his father shaped his vision of Middle-earth from the primitive The Book of Lost Tales to early versions ofThe Silmarillion. This theme is taken up again in volumes X and XI.

Vol 5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987). Along with other writings this volume includes Tolkien's drafts of a tale about time travel. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The Lost Road itself is a fragmentary beginning of a tale, including a rough structure and several intiguing chunks of narrative, including four entire chapters dealing with modern England and Numenor, from which the entire story as it should have been can be glimpsed. The scheme was of time-travel by means of 'vision' or being mentally inserted into what had been, so as to actually re-experience that which had happened. In this way the tale links first to Saxon England of Alfred the Great, then to the Lombard Alboin of St. Benedict's time, the Baltic Sea in Old Norse days, Ireland at the time of the Tuatha's coming (600 years after the Flood), prehistoric North in the Ice Age, a 'Galdor story' of Third-Age Middle-Earth, and finally the Fall of Gil-Galad, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Numenor/Atlantis and the Bending of the World. It harps on the theme of a 'straight road' into the West, now only in memory because the world is round."


GROUP TWO, VOLUMES VI - IX, LORD OF THE RINGS

If you or the friend you're buying for is primarily interested in the LOTR, then these four volumes are the books to have. Just keep in mind that you'll find in them many unfinished plots that may or may not fit well into LOTR. Tolkien was a perfectionist, always trying to improve plots and fill in details. These are his drafts.

Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v. 1, 1988). Describes the initial stages of writing LOTR and covers the first three-fourths of The Fellowship of the Ring (until the Mines of Moria).

Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 2, 1989).Covers from the Mines of Moria until Gandalf meets Théoden about one-fourth of the way into The Two Towers.

Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 3, 1990).Continues the tale up to the opening of the Black Gate not quite three-quarters of the way through The Two Towers.

Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings, v. 4, 1992).Completes the tale and includes an alternate ending in which Sam answers questions from his children. There is also a much shortened version of Vol. 9 called The End of the Third Age, which leaves out material that isn't related to LOTR.


GROUP THREE, VOLUMES X - XI, THE SILMARILLION

Just as The Hobbit created a public demand for more tales about hobbits, The Lord of the Rings created a demand for more tales about Middle-earth. To meet that demand, Tolkien struggled to reconcile and adapt many of his earlier tales to the historical framework made well-known by his two published works. He never completed those labors, so it was left after his death to his son Christopher to do so in The Silmarillion (1977). If you or a friend is interested in knowing more about The Silmarillion, these two volumes may be of interest.

Vol 10, Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, v. 1, 1993). Contains material from earlier (1951 and later) drafts of The Silmarillion. Wikipedia notes that: "The title of this volume comes from a statement from one of the essays: 'Just as Sauron concentrated his power in the One Ring, Morgoth dispersed his power into the very matter of Arda, thus the whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring.'"

Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v. 2, 1994). Addition material about the earlier drafts of The Silmarillion. Includes information about the origin of the Ents and Great Eagles.


GROUP FOUR, VOLUME XII AND INDEX, WRAP-UP

Vol. 12, The People's of Middle-earth (1996). Contains material that did not fit into the other volumes. The most interesting include additional appendices like those at the back of LOTR, essays on the races of Middle-earth, and about 30 pages of a sequel to the LOTR called The New Shadow. It was set a century after the LOTR. Tolkien abandoned the tale as too "sinister and depressing."

The History of Middle-earth Index (2002) is an index of all twelve volumes.

******

Keep in mind that books in The History of Middle-earth are nothing like reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. What J. R. R. Tolkien wrote is often fragmentary and unpolished rough drafts, while what Christopher wrote is literary scholarship, concerned more with sources and texts than plots. If you or the friend you are buying for is more interested in understanding LOTR better, you might be happier with a reference works such as:

Karen Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition)

Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

Or my own detailed, day-by-day chronology Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

All three will give you a richer, deeper understanding of LOTR.

******

If you're interested in reading books with the same flavor as Tolkien, you might consider reading William Morris, a once well-known writer who influenced Tolkien. For tales like the warriors of Rohan, see his The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. For arduous quest journeys much like Frodo and Sam's quest to be rid of the Ring, read his The Wood Beyond the World and The Well at the World's End. The four tales have been collected into two inexpensive volumes:

More to William Morris: Two Books that Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains

On the Lines of Morris' Romances: Two Books That Inspired J. R. R. Tolkien-The Wood Beyond the World and the Well at the World's End

******

I hope this helps you to select wisely based on your own interests. You can save some money by buying collections of The History of Middle-earth in multi-volume sets. You can also save by buying the Ballantine mass-market paperback instead of the Houghton Mifflin trade paperback edition, although the former may have smaller type and you may need to use both hands to keep it open while you read.

good
I purchased this for my grandaughter for her birthday, and since she is really into Tolkein, I'm very pleased with the purchase, tho I have not opened the package, and will just send it on to her.Service was good.

The Early Silmarillion . . .
. . . continues in this, the fourth volume of "The History of Middle-Earth" series.

Christopher Tolkien, in his 12-volume "History of Middle-Earth" series presents the notes, stories, fragments, and legends of what was to eventually become "The Silmarillion" in two stages.This book is the final stage of what scholars would consider "The Early Silmarillion"; continuing on the work presented in the two volumes of "The Book of Lost Tales".

If the Tolkien fan is interested in seeing how the mind of the Master developed and progressed his stories, this volume is absolutely indispensable.It is especially interesting to compare "The Shaping of Middle-Earth" with "Morgoth's Ring" and the other volumes of what Christopher calls "The Later Silmarillion".

Once again, thanks is due to Christopher for his labor of love so that we can delve more deeply into Middle-Earth.

The earliest of the shortened styled writings that tolkien intended to come out before the lord of the rings.
I feel like giving this a four for the maps and explaining of the shaping of the earth.I guess I didn't really care much about that cause I liked the evolution of the characters a lot more, but did always like to look at the maps just too get a quick visual to help picture the world that I love.The reason I did give it five stars is because I know most people like this aspect of the whole history, and you will get PLENTY OF INFO on how this world was created.

Now the part that I really liked was all of the globe type drawings, and even more I liked all of the early compressed writings in this.It's kind of funny to watch the evolution of these writings because tolkien would always start out very compessed, then when he rewrote it, it ALWAYS became longer.Then if he did manage to compress it, he would always add something new to the story, or make the tale go from stationery to grim.Then when he tried to add his new idea in like his third rewriting, it never got compressed.So what this means is that he could never completely finish these writings, but on the posotive side we could have anywhere from 3-8 versions of a single writing.

Once again, thank you christopher tolkien for taking the time to publish all of your father's writings, and equal thanks for taking the time to explain these and leave notes.

Early Notes for The Silmarillion, plus MAPS! Better than Vol III
`The Shaping of Middle-Earth' is the fourth volume of Christopher Tolkien's exegesis of his father, J.R.R. Tolkien's unpublished writings which were done before, during, and after the writing of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings'. It is important to realize that beginning with Volume III, `The Lays of Beleriand', these volumes are prepared according to the date on which the elder Tolkien wrote the documents. That this `real world' chronology is roughly parallel to the great ages of middle earth is simply a happy coincidence.

One little niggle I have about the emphasis of `Middle Earth' in the title of both this volume and the series as a whole is that the land, middle earth, is just one part of the whole world in which this mythology is played out. It is basically a great continent, roughly similar to Eurasia in size, surrounded by a single great ocean which is, in turn, bounded by the undying lands. This fact is eminantly clear in the crude maps by Tolkien senior presented in this volume.

What is also eminantly clear in most of these fragments is the great difference in both geography and physics between our world and the world in which middle earth is embedded. There is no sun and no stars, until the stars are created by some of the `gods', the Valar, who are in turn created by `the one', Iluvatar.

The fragments in this volume are mostly early versions of the mythology which was to become the postumously published `The Silmarillion'. As such, it deals with my very favorite character outside of `The Lord of the Rings', the elven lord Feanor who, in a rough parallel to both Adam and Prometheus, disobeys the Valar based on the promptings of the ultimate bad guy in these stories, Morgoth.

Even if one buys the unique physics, cosmology, and pantheon of gods and demigods, the hardest part of this and similar writings is how to deal with Tolkien's handling of evil. How, one wonders, are eight `good' Valar duped by the ninth evil one, who is left to subvert the Valar's most favored creations, the elves, and create all sorts of mayhem in Middle Earth. Even if one introduces the arguments about `free will', one wonders how, if you posit a very real supreme being, Iluvatar (Eru), plus eight comparably powerful beings, such beings would let Morgoth get away with being the cause of all this suffering.

On a ligher note, I find this book an amazing source of poetic inspiration, even more poetic, sometimes than the overtly poetic `The Lays of Beleriand'. There are phrases and paragraphs here and there which sound like they are straight out of a song by Donoven Leitch or The Incredible String Band.

Like almost all the twelve volumes in this series, this is much more a study of fragments than a complete work. Many of the fragments rework the same material, so you find yourself reading the same story over again, in slightly different words. And yet, the power of the created world holds up through the scholarly framework. As with other volumes, there is an excellent index of names at the end of the book and the aforementioned maps are invaluable in understanding the very odd geography of this invented world.
... Read more

Product Description

Not just revolutionary because it was groundbreaking, the Lord ofthe Rings is timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelfmind. Tolkien was a distinguished linguist and Oxford scholar ofdead languages, with strong ideas about the importance of myth andstory and a deep appreciation of nature. His epic, 10 years in themaking, recounts the Great War of the Ring and the closing ofMiddle-Earth's Third Age, a time when magic begins to fade from theworld and men rise to dominance. Tolkien carefully details thistransition with tremendous skill and love, creating in the Lord ofthe Rings a universal and all-embracing tale, a justly celebratedclassic. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1514)

Beautiful edition, three minor complaints (and one piece of advice)
First, the 50th Anniversary Edition is the best edition of the LOTR I have ever owned.The cover is beautiful and feels nice, although a close inspection suggests it might not be genuine leather.The gold and copper lettering adds a classy touch, as does the gilding of the pages.The pages are nicely type-set and easy on the eyes (OK, after typesetting my own book I tend to notice typesetting, font choices, etc. first before anything else), and I was able to get the maps out without tearing them with one minor exception (see below).

My three complaints are:

1)The binding feels weak in some ways.Other reviewers have noticed this too.I would prefer a binding with a more substantial spine that is clear that it will last.

2)The binding on close inspection appears to be printed as if to appear to be leather.It looks to me like an imitation leather. This makes me question whether the publisher is being generally up-front about the rest of the book.I cannot find information on the type of paper used (if it is acid-free etc).Consequently I can't tell if the book is built to last.

3) The folded maps in the covers present a difficult design problem and one the publisher wasn't able to fully overcome.While I was able to undo the glue without too much difficulty (see below for how), on unfolding the back cover map, it ripped ever-so-slightly due to tension from the rest of the book and the binding.This small tear (hardly noticeable) is not glue-related.

As for how to undo the glue without ripping the maps:here's what I did:Hold the map firmly down and gently lift the edge so that there is a slight tension on the glue (it doesn't take much).Maintain this tension for a few seconds and the glue will release.Don't try to force the glue to release.Just apply a little tension and wait.

All in all a very nice edition.I just wish it was more honestly marketed and/or more ruggedly designed.I subtracted a star for those engineering and marketing issues.

The Best Way to Read LOTR
I recently bought an Android phone that came bundled with Kindle. I honestly thought I would never use the app but after having downloaded the Lord of the Rings and reading half of it so far, I can say this is without a doubt the best way to read a novel. My phone is always with me and now so are my books!

The LOTR 50th Anniversary Edition
Great book set!Very attractive - a pleasure to hold in one's hands and read.Never mind reviewing the story - everyone knows what a great story it is.The book itself is a tribute to LOTR.Highly recommended!The only disappointment is that The Hobbit is not included.

The most fantastic fantasy novel ever!
I watch the movie part II years ago and fell in love with it right away! Then I watch part I and III and decided that this book had to be in my collection. LOTRs must be the first fantasy novel that I won't hesitate to recommend anyone to read and enjoy it. The plot is even better than The Hobbit, of course, but more importantly, this book brings me joy, sadness, sympathy, excitement, and love. Middle Earth is like a dreaming land which attracts every readers and I think everybody never stops dreaming about it. The ending is so sweet and satisfying that it made me smile after closing the book. Who can resist sir Tolkien after all?

With LOTRs, sir J. R. R. Tolkien deserves to be the best author of the fantasy novel group. It must take a very long long time for another one to replace his position. I admit that I'm already a crazy fan of him and each guy in the "fellowship of the ring"! I have no doubt that LOTRs is the best and a must-read for everyone, young and old, and everyone who's looking for something that they have to read from the beginning to the end! And after that, just enjoy the movies as much as you can, for this series is also the best fantasy movie adaption!

Nice Book
Purchased for son's birthday. He just turned 13 and loves the LOTR. The packaging of the book could have been better. It came unwrapped (not protected for shipping), but arrived in ok condition. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed to be the essential reference works for all readers and students, these volumes present the most thorough analysis possible of Tolkien's work within the important context of his life.
The Reader's Guide includes brief but comprehensive alphabetical entries on a wide range of topics, including a who's who of important persons, a guide to places and institutions, details concerning Tolkien's source material, information about the political and social upheavals through which the author lived, the importance of his social circle, his service as an infantryman in World War I -- even information on the critical reaction to his work and the "Tolkien cult."
The Chronology details the parallel evolutions of Tolkien's works and his academic and personal life in minute detail. Spanning the entirety of his long life including nearly sixty years of active labor on his Middle-earth creations, and drawing on such contemporary sources as school records, war service files, biographies, correspondence, the letters of his close friend C. S. Lewis, and the diaries of W. H. Lewis, this book will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to gain a complete understanding of Tolkien's status as a giant of twentieth-century literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Amazing amount of info !!!!!
This set of 2 books has got to be the most informative, fun-to-read, amazing books on Tolkien I have read. Wayne & Christina have done it again. These 2 books are a must have for any serious Tolkien fan although they are a bit too much for a casual Tolkien reader IMHO. The Chronology is almost like reading a diary of everything JRRT did from day to day. It's so much fun to read & see what Tolkien's life was like. The Reader's Guide is so stuffed with information it's like having a whole encyclopedia on Tolkien. It has almost anything you could want to know about the man, his works, his family, his feelings/opinions on world events, etc. These 2 books are from the dynamic duo who brought us the reader's companion on the Lord Of The Rings which is a must have book for a reader of that book whether reading it for the 1st time or for the 30th. In summary, if you're just a casual Tolkien reader who enjoys The Hobbit or LOTR and don't care to know any more about the history of the books or the author of them, this set might be too much for you. On the other hand if you are a die-hard Tolkien fan, you simply MUST get this set of books. You will feel like a kid in a candy store with all the Tolkien info in these books!!!

Pleasant Xmas Gift for a relation
I am a Williams alumni, and I was pleased to present this definitive Tolkien guide to my brother for Xmas this year.Bravo to the librarians!

Everything you ever wanted to know about Tolkien and then some
Like the title of my review says, this set has everything you ever wanted to know about Tolkien and then some. At around 2300 pages, this isn't exactly casual reading, and it isn't for the casual reader either - it is for the devoted Tolkien fan.

Devoted Tolkien fans will be rewarded for their patience as they work their way through these thick volumes. Plenty of rare nuggets and interesting commentary on the life and times of Tolkien.

A Magnificent Work of Scholarship
This is an enormous work and a stupendous achievement.Christina Scull and her husband Wayne G. Hammond have created, in two large volumes, an indispensable compendium for students of JRR Tolkien.Although the two volumes can be obtained separately, I recommend that both be purchased, preferably at the same time, so that you can turn from one to the other as your studies lead you down one fascinating avenue to countless others.

The Chronology Volume is an amazing achievement.JRR Tolkien's entire life is chronicled, many times day by day, so that we know what classes he taught, lectures he gave, conferences he attended, and guests he invited for dinner throughout a long, active life.This may seem to be inconsequential minutiae, but all of it is important in revealing the personality and character of the author and the many sources from which his own writings sprang.Historians and sociologists will also find this volume extremely useful since it reveals one man's daily life through three quarters of the twentieth century.

Equally as impressive is Volume 2, the Reader's Guide.Here Scull and Hammond have provided a multiplicity of information on every bit of extant writing by Tolkien, other authors and thinkers with whom he conversed or otherwise communicated, and so much else that it is impossible to enumerate it all.Scholars studying other writers besides Tolkien will do well to consult this volume, since he had contact with so many of them.

As a matter of full disclosure I should reveal that I met Christina Scull some years ago in London, and I have maintained a friendship with her and with Wayne ever since.I am honoredthat an article I wrote for the Tolkien journal "Beyond Bree" has been referenced in this Reader's Guide. But I hasten to assure you that I would be just as impressed with this work and would recommend itjust as highly even if these connections did not exist.

Incomparable Reference Work on an Incomparable Author
Scull and Hammond's "The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide" is an unparalleled reference work about Tolkien as author.The "Chronology" volume examines his life in extraordinary detail, often day-by-day.It draws heavily from Tolkien's letters.The Reader's Guide" volume discusses in equal detail the persons, institutions, and literary works that influenced Tolkien's great cration. Published in a boxed, two-volume set of excellent physical quality, Scull and Hammond's "The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide" would be a handsome addition to any library, and a fountain of sparkling interest to any serious Tolkien student. ... Read more