New Releases by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Smith of Wootton Major: Illustrated" is a charming novella by J.R.R. Tolkien, accompanied by enchanting illustrations that enrich the magical world of the story. Set in the fictional village of Wootton Major, the narrative follows the adventures of Smith, a humble apprentice to the village blacksmith, as he embarks on a remarkable journey through the realm of Faery. When Smith is chosen to participate in the Great Cake Bake, a special event held only once in a generation, he discovers a mysterious silver star hidden within the cake. This magical token grants him access to the land of Faery, where he encounters a host of fantastical creatures, including elves, wizards, and even the enigmatic Queen of Faery herself. As Smith navigates the wonders and perils of Faery, he learns valuable lessons about courage, friendship, and the power of imagination. Along the way, he embarks on a quest to find the lost star, encountering challenges and adversaries that test his resolve and ingenuity. Through Tolkien''s evocative prose and vivid imagery, readers are transported to a world of wonder and enchantment, where the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur. The illustrations further enhance the magical atmosphere of the story, bringing to life the whimsical characters and landscapes of Wootton Major and Faery. "Smith of Wootton Major: Illustrated" is a timeless tale of adventure and discovery that will captivate readers of all ages. With its blend of fantasy, folklore, and profound insights into the human spirit, this edition is sure to enchant and inspire readers as they embark on a journey into the heart of Faery alongside Smith.

Throughout this vast and intricate mythology, says Publishers Weekly, "one marvels anew at the depth, breadth, and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien''s labor. No one sympathetic to his aims, the invention of a secondary universe, will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation." In this capstone to that creation, we find the chronology of Middle-earth''s later Ages, the Hobbit genealogies, and the Western language or Common Speech. These early essays show that Tolkien''s fertile imagination was at work on Middle-earth''s Second and Third Ages long before he explored them in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings . Here too are valuable writings from Tolkien''s last years: " The New Shadow," in Gondor of the Fourth Age, and" Tal-elmar," the tale of the coming of the Nsmen-rean ships.

De nieuwe Prime Video-serie The Rings of Power is geïnspireerd op Tolkiens Midden-aarde – De Silmarillion in een nieuwe, prachtige uitvoering met geïllustreerde schutbladen en een omslagillustratie van J.R.R. Tolkien zelf J.R.R. Tolkien dacht voor de klassieker In de ban van de ring een complete wereld uit, met een eigen geschiedenis, geografie, taal en mythologie. Deze achtergronden verenigde hij in De Silmarillion. Hoewel het tijdens zijn leven nooit is gepubliceerd, beschouwde Tolkien dit boek als zijn eigenlijke levenswerk. In 1977 werd De Silmarillion postuum uitgegeven. Waar In de ban van de ring de geschiedenis van de Derde Era beschreef, voert De Silmarillion de lezer mee naar het begin van de oudste tijden: de Eerste Era van Midden-aarde. Het is de mythe van de schepping van de wereld en de grote oorlogen die werden gevoerd tussen de Elfen en de duistere Morgoth. In de pers ‘Tolkien schiep een fantasiewereld die ongekend knap in elkaar steekt.’ Visie ‘Wie eenmaal gegrepen is door de ontzagwekkende diepte van J.R.R. Tolkiens Midden-aarde en epische stijl waarin de oude heldendichten doorklinken, wil meer.’ Hebban.nl ‘Tolkiens boeken zijn ware klassiekers die tot op de dag van vandaag worden gelezen.’ Trouw

Gondolin, kota permai yang tersembunyi, dibangun dan dihuni oleh Elves Noldor yang memberontak semasa tinggal di Valinor, negeri para dewa. Raja mereka adalah Turgon, yang paling dibenci dan ditakuti oleh Morgoth. Sia-sia Morgoth mencari keberadaan kota tersembunyi ini, sementara dewa-dewa di Valinor lebih banyak berdiam diri, tak mau membantu. Kecuali Ulmo, sang Penguasa Perairan. Ulmo mengirim Tuor, sepupu Túrin Turambar, sebagai pembawa pesan ke Gondolin. Dalam balutan jubah Ulmo, Tuor berangkat dari negeri kelahirannya untuk mencari Turgon. Di kerajaan tersembunyi ini, takdirnya terpenuhi: Tuor menjadi pahlawan besar, menikah dengan Idril, putri Turgon, dan putra mereka adalah Eärendel yang kelak datang menghadap Valar untuk memohon belas kasihan bagi anak-anak Iluvatar, sebagaimana dikisahkan dalam The Silmarillion.

First published more than forty years ago, Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien brings together sketches and pictures by Tolkien that appeared in the official calendars published in the 1970s.

The final part of The History of The Lord of the Rings, Sauron Defeated: The End Of The Third Age is J.R.R. Tolkien''s enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes and includes the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety. In the first section of Sauron Defeated Christopher Tolkien completes his fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings. Beginning with Sam’s rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, this section ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue, in which, years after the departure of Bilbo and Frodo from the Grey Havens, Sam attempts to answer his children’s questions. The second section is an edition of The Notion Club Papers. These mysterious papers, discovered in the early years of the twenty-first century, report the discussions of an Oxford club in the years 1986-7, in which after a number of topics, the centre of interest turns to the legend of Atlantis, the strange communications received by other members of the club from the past, and the violent irruption of the legend into the North-west of Europe.

The first ever publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s final writings on Middle-earth, covering a wide range of subjects and perfect for those who have read and enjoyed The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth, and want to learn more about Tolkien’s magnificent world. It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. From sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Númenor, the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor, and even who had beards! This new collection, which has been edited by Carl F. Hostetter, one of the world’s leading Tolkien experts, is a veritable treasure-trove offering readers a chance to peer over Professor Tolkien’s shoulder at the very moment of discovery: and on every page, Middle-earth is once again brought to extraordinary life.

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL, AND SIR ORFEO THREE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH POEMS, WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN It’s Christmas at Camelot and King Arthur won’t begin to feast until he has witnessed a marvel of chivalry. A mysterious knight, green from head to toe, rides in and brings the court’s wait to an end with an implausible challenge to the Round Table: he will allow any of the knights to strike him once, with a battle-axe no less, on the condition that he is allowed to return the blow a year hence. Arthur’s brave favorite for the challenge is Sir Gawain… Accompanying Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in this book are Sir Orfeo, a medieval version of the story of Orpheus and Euridice, a love so strong that it overcame death, and Pearl, the moving tale of a man in a graveyard mourning his baby daughter, lost like a pearl that slipped through his fingers. Worn out by grief, he falls asleep and dreams of meeting her in a bejewelled fantasy world. Interpreted in a form designed to appeal to the general reader, J.R.R. Tolkien’s vivid translations of these classic poems represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of the originals. This beautifully decorated text includes as a bonus the complete text of Tolkien’s acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.

The first part of The History of The Lord of the Rings, The Return Of The Shadow is J.R.R. Tolkien''s enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes and includes the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety. The Return of the Shadow is the story of the first part of the history of the creation of The Lord of the Rings, a fascinating study of Tolkien’s great masterpiece, from its inception to the end of the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring. In The Return of the Shadow (the abandoned title of the first volume of The Lord of the Rings) we see how Bilbo’s magic ring evolved into the supremely dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord; and the precise, and astonishingly unforeseen, moment when a Black Rider first rode in to the Shire. The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed, and Frodo’s companions undergo many changes of name and personality. The book comes complete with reproductions of the first maps and facsimile pages from the earliest manuscripts.

The second part of The History of The Lord of the Rings, an enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes and includes the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety. The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, The Return of the Shadow. It races the great expansion of the tale into new lands and peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emerence 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, and the original meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed. The book also contains a full account of the original map which was to be the basis of the emerging geography of Middle-earth.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien''s epic adventure, The Lord of the Rings.

Akibat serangan Orc, rombongan pembawa cincin tercerai-berai. Aragorn, Legolas, dan Gimli, meneruskan perjalanan ke negeri orang-orang Rohan. Bersama Raja Theoden dan pasukannya mereka menuju Isengard untuk menghadapi Saruman. Pippin dan Merry tersesat ke hutan Fangorn dan bertemu Treebeard, penjaga pohon tertua yang masih hidup sejak awal terciptanya Middle Earth. Sementara itu, Frodo dan Sam melanjutkan berjalan ke Mordor untuk memusnahkan cincin Sauron. Tapi ada sosok misterius yang senantiasa mengikuti mereka dengan diam-diam, mengintai dengan sabar untuk mendapatkan cincin itu.

Painstakingly restored from J.R.R. Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year. Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril. In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father''s own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.

“Shows how Finnish mythology and folk tales were instrumental to how Tolkien created his own legendarium.”—Boston Globe Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters. “Hapless Kullervo,” as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was “the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own,” and was “a major matter in the legends of the First Age.” Tolkien’s Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Túrin Turambar, the tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published with the author’s drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world. “A fascinating read.”—NPR

This collection will entertain all who appreciate the art of masterful letter writing. The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien sheds much light on J.R.R. Tolkien''s creative genius and grand design for the creation of a whole new world: Middle-earth. Featuring a radically expanded index, this volume contains 354 letters, dating between October 1914, when Tolkien was an undergraduate at the University of Oxford, and August 29, 1973, four days before his death. This is a valuable research tool for all fans wishing to trace the evolution of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Bilbo’s Last Song is considered by many to be Tolkien’s epilogue to his classic work The Lord of the Rings. As Bilbo Baggins takes his final voyage to the Undying Lands, he must say goodbye to Middle-earth. Poignant and lyrical, the song is both a longing to set forth on his ultimate journey and a tender farewell to friends left behind. Pauline Baynes’s jewel-like illustrations lushly depict both this final voyage and scenes from The Hobbit, as Bilbo remembers his first journey while he prepares for his last.

Begin your journey into Middle-earth... The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power—the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring—the ring that rules them all—which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

A New York Times bestseller for twenty-one weeks upon publication, J.R.R. Tolkien''s Unfinished Tales is a collection of short stories 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.

Never before published in a single volume, Tolkien’s four novellas (Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wootton Major, and Roverandom) and one book of poems (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil) are gathered together for the first time. This new, definitive collection of works — which had appeared separately, in various formats, between 1949 and 1998 — comes with an illuminating introduction from esteemed author and Tolkien expert Tom Shippey as well as Tolkein’s most celebrated essay, “On Fairy-stories,” which astutely addresses the relationship between fairy tales and fantasy. The book is the perfect opportunity for fans of Middle-earth to enjoy some of Tolkien’s often overlooked yet most creative storytelling. With dragons and sand sorcerers, sea monsters and hobbits, knights and dwarves, this collection contains all the classic elements for Tolkien buffs of all ages.

In his acclaimed collection Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson illuminated the sources, inspirations, and influences that fired J.R.R. Tolkien’s genius. Now Anderson turns his attention to Tolkien’s colleague and friend C. S. Lewis, whose influence on modern fantasy, through his beloved Narnia books, is second only to Tolkien’s own. In many ways, Lewis’s influence has been even wider than Tolkien’s. For in addition to the Narnia series, Lewis wrote groundbreaking works of science fiction, urban fantasy, and religious allegory, and he came to be regarded as among the most important Christian writers of the twentieth century. It will come as no surprise, then, that such a wide-ranging talent drew inspiration from a variety of sources. Here are twenty of the tributaries that fed Lewis’s unique talent, among them: “The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood,” taken from a never-before-published fantasy by Lewis’s biographer and friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, that directly inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; E. Nesbit’s charming “The Aunt and Amabel,” in which a young girl enters another world by means of a wardrobe; “The Snow Queen,” by Hans Christian Andersen, featuring the abduction of a young boy by a woman as cruel as she is beautiful; and many more, including works by Charles Dickens, Kenneth Grahame, G. K. Chesterton, and George MacDonald, of whom Lewis would write, “I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master.” Full of fascinating insights into Lewis’s life and fiction, Tales Before Narnia is the kind of book that will be treasured by children and adults alike and passed down lovingly from generation to generation. INCLUDING SEVENTEEN MORE WORKS BY THE PROGENITORS OF MODERN FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION: “Tegnér’s Drapa” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “The Magic Mirror” by George MacDonald “Undine” by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué “Letters from Hell: Letter III” by Valdemar Thisted “Fastosus and Avaro” by John Macgowan “The Tapestried Chamber; or, The Lady in the Sacque” by Sir Walter Scott “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” by Charles Dickens “The Child and the Giant” by Owen Barfield “A King’s Lesson” by William Morris “The Waif Woman: A Cue—From a Saga” by Robert Louis Stevenson “First Whisper of The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame “The Wish House” by Rudyard Kipling “Et in Sempiternum Pereant” by Charles Williams “The Dragon’s Visit” by J.R.R. Tolkien “The Coloured Lands” by G. K. Chesterton “The Man Who Lived Backwards” by Charles F. Hall “The Dream Dust Factory” by William Lindsay Gresham

The glorious history of how Middle-earth would change—and become the world readers recognize in The Lord of the Rings As friends and fellow members of the literary circle known as The Inklings, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis embarked on a challenge. Lewis was to write on “space-travel” and Tolkien on “time-travel.” Lewis’s novel Out of the Silent Planet became the first book of a science fiction trilogy. Tolkien’s unfinished story “The Lost Road” chronicles the original destruction of Númenor, a pivotal event of the Second Age of Middle-earth. In this intriguing volume, Christopher Tolkien traces the vivid history of Middle-earth, bringing the land—its topography and ever-clashing forces—to the state readers recognize from The Lord of the Rings. Entertaining and informative, The Lost Road and Other Writings shares fresh insights into the evolution of one of the world’s most enduring fantasies.

The extraordinary history of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor. Embedded in English legend and English association, they were set in the narrative frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol (or Ælfwine) to Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle, where Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse. In the Tales are found the earliest accounts and original ideas of Gods and Elves; Dwarves and Orcs; the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; Nargothrond and Gondolin; and the geography and cosmology of the invented world. Praise for Book of Lost Tales 1 “In these tales we have the scholar joyously gamboling in the thickets of his imagination. . . . A commentary and notes greatly enrich the quest.”—The Daily Telegraph “Affords us an almost over-the-shoulder view into the evolving creative process and genius of J.R.R. Tolkien in a new, exciting aspect . . .The superb, sensitive, and extremely helpful commentary and editing done by Christopher Tolkien make all of this possible.”—Mythlore

An absorbing collection of stories, poems, and commentaries by the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Renowned around the world as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien was also a distinguished academic and professor whose writings and lectures expand beyond the scope of his beloved Middle-earth. From short stories of fantastical adventures to essays on imagination and the narrative form, The Tolkien Reader gathers some of these fascinating and hard-to-find works into one volume. Tree and Leaf: Professor Tolkien’s now-famous essay “On Fairy-stories” and the short story “Leaf by Niggle” examine and illustrate the form and treatment of fantasy narratives. The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son: A short play inspired by The Battle of Malden, an Old English poem with no ending and no beginning that describes a historical tenth-century battle between the English and Viking invaders. Farmer Giles of Ham: An imaginative history of the distant past that follows the unheroic Farmer Giles as he attempts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: A delightful collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, staunch friend of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.

Two tales of fantasy by Tolkien.

In 1964 J.R.R. Tolkien was invited to write the preface to a new edition of "The Golden Key" by George MacDonald. Accepting the invitation, Tolkien proposed the preface would explain the meaning of Fairy through a brief story about a cook and a cake. But the story grew, and took on a life of its own, and the preface was abandoned. Tolkien eventually gave it the title, "Smith of Wootton Major", to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse or a story in the Boy''s Own paper. It was published in 1967.