J. R. R. Tolkien

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....

This is the fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, the first two comprising The Book of Lost Tales Parts One and Two, and the third The Lays of Beleriand. It has been given the title The Shaping of Middle-earth because the writings it includes display a great advance in the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor. The hitherto wholly unknown "Ambarkanta," or Shape of...

In this fiftieth anniversary edition of the Tolkien classic, Farmer Giles, his mare, and his talking dog go into the valley of the Thames to fight the dragon Chrysophylax. Includes the author's previously unpublished notes for a sequel.

Contains two tales by fantasy author J.R.R Tolkien, including "Smith of Wootton Major," the story of a child who is gifted with a life of privilege after swallowing a magic star; and "Farmer Giles of Ham," about a man who becomes an unwitting hero after accidently shooting a giant.

Study of the Appendices to "The Lord of the Rings," which contain the historical structure of the Second and Third Ages, with additional writings from Tolkien's later years offering new insights into his fictional world, and the abandoned beginnings of two other stories.

Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, this is an important non Middle-earth work to set alongside his other retellings of existing myth and legend, "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún," "The Fall of Arthur," and "The Story of Kullervo." "Set 'in Britain's land beyond the seas' during the age of chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton lord and lady (the 'Aotrou' and 'Itroun' of the title) and the tragedy...

A collection of Tolkien's unpublished manuscripts dealing with events from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Rings.