A Tolkien Treasury

J.R.R. Tolkien’s admirers form an international community of writers, scholars, and artists. This richly illustrated anthology gathers together three decades of work dedicated to the master of fantasy.

With poems, stories, songs, and dozens of illustrations, A Tolkien Treasur, y is a unique celebration of the author and his creations—the mythical world of Middle-Earth and the magical creatures who inhabit it.

Critical essays by W.H. Auden, Edmund Wilson, Colin Wilson, and others explore Tolkien’s imaginative world. Scenes from , The Hobbit, and , Lord of the Rings, are brought to life in drawings by Michael Green and full-color paintings by Tom Kirk. Also included is a concise biography that offers insights into the author’s life, quizzes, recipes, and more.

J.R.R Tolkien served in World War I before returning to his alma mater, Oxford, where he taught philology and medieval literature. Fascinated by language Tolkien invented his own “Elvish” which led into his own mythology. The Hobbit was first published in in 1937 followed by the trilogy The Lord of the Rings in 1954–55.

Biography

His mother died when he was only twelve and both he and his brother were made wards of the local priest and sent to King Edward's School, Birmingham, where Tolkien shine in his classical work. After completing a First in English Language and Literature at Oxford, Tolkien married Edith Bratt. He was also commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the battle of the Somme. After the war, he obtained a post on the New English Dictionary and began to write the mythological and legendary cycle which he originally called "The Book of Lost Tales" but which eventually became known as The Silmarillion.

In 1920 Tolkien was appointed Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds which was the beginning of a distinguished academic career culminating with his election as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Meanwhile Tolkien wrote for his children and told them the story of The Hobbit. It was his publisher, Stanley Unwin, who asked for a sequel to The Hobbit and gradually Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, a huge story that took twelve years to complete and which was not published until Tolkien was approaching retirement. After retirement Tolkien and his wife lived near Oxford, but then moved to Bournemouth. Tolkien returned to Oxford after his wife's death in 1971. He died on 2 September 1973 leaving The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.

Author biography courtesy of HarperCollins (UK).