The Book of Lost Tales was the first major work of imagination by J.R.R. Tolkien, begun in 1916-17 when he was twenty-five years old and left incomplete several years later.  It stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, for the Lost Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Silmarillion.  Embedded in English legend and English association, they are set in the narrative frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriel (or Ǽlfwine) 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, Balrogs, and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; of Nargothrond and Gondolin; of the geography and cosmography of the invented world.

The Book of Lost Tales will be published in two volumes; this first part contains the Tales of Valinor, and the second will include Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin.  Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems; and each volume contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.  Further books in this series are planned to extend the history of Middle-earth as it was refined and enlarged in later years, and will include the Long Lays of Beleriand, the Ambarkanta or Shape of the World, the Lhammas or Account of Tongues, annals, maps, and many other unpublished writings of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Christopher Tolkien, who like his father formerly taught at Oxford University, has previously edited both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.  He now lives in France, where he is at work on the vast labor of editing his father's remaining papers.


"Lost Tales (Book 1) is a highly intersting and valuable book in a variety of ways.  It affords us an almost over-the-sholder view into the evolving creative process and genius of J.R.R. Tolkien in a new exciting aspect, not seen before.  In addition, it gives us much information and rish detail, often highly illuminating, that was later to be greatly compressed or passed over in the published Silmarillion.  Further, it sheds much new light on the way in which Tolkien's mythology was intended in its original conception as a mythology for England, the basis for which was not easily seen in earlier published writings.  Two other aspects are additionally seen.  There is new linguistic information, not known before.  The superb, sensitive, and extremely helpful commentary and editing done by Christopher Tolkien makes all this possible."
- Glen H. GoodKnight, Editor of Mythlore and Founder of The Mythopoeic Society

Front Flap
"There are tales of MIddle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Gret Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard oncw walked, but that were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

"In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Niënor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.

"Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by rthe elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and scorn him to has face.  Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire.  Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form.  Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulates the fates of Túrin abd Niënor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP

Back Flap
"The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterward, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character; it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth.  But he could not bring it to a final and finished form.  In this book I have endeavored to construct, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention."

- CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein.  After serving in the First World War, Tolkien embarked upon a distinguished academic career and was recognized as one of the finest philologists in thw world.  He is, however, best known as the creator of Middle-earth and the author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.  His books have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.  He died in 1973 at the age of eighty-one.

Christopher Tolkien, born on November 21, 1924, is the thrid son of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Appointed by Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself since his father's death in 1973 to editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion, the collections entitled Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth.  Since 1975 he has lived in France with his wife, Bailiie.

The Fellowship of the Ring - the first volume in the trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" - tells of the fateful power of the One Ring, and begins the magnificent tale of adventure which is continued the The Two Towers and reaches its mighty climax in The Return of the King.

"This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation.  Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other.:"  J.R.R. Tolkien

THE TALE OF TWO FIFTH-CENTURY HEROES
RECONSTRUCTED BY
J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Professor J.R.R.Tolkien is most widely known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but he was also a distinguished scholar in the field of Mediaeval English language and literature. In Anglo-Saxon studies, his celebrated lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics is widely recognized as a turning point in the criticism of the poem.

The story of Finn and Hengest, two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe, is told both in Beowulf and in a fragmentary Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Fight at Finnsburg, but so obscurely and allusively that its interpretation had been a matter of controversy for over 100 years. Bringing his unique combination of philological erudition and poetic imagination to the task, however, Tolkien revealed a classic tragedy of divided loyalties, of vengeance, blood and death. The story has the added attraction that it describes the events immediately preceding the first Germanic invasion of Britain which was led by Hengest himself.

This book will appeal not only to students of Old English and all those interested in the history of northern Europe and Anglo-Saxon England, but also admirers of The Lord of the Rings who will be fascinated to see how Tolkien handled a story which he did not invent.

In this delightful and enthralling tale, J.R.R. Tolkien first created the imperishable world of fantasy called Middle-earth, and those charming, indomitable creatures, the hobbits, whose adventures are continued in "The Lord of the Rings."

"This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation.  Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other.:"  J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King is the towering climax to J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings."  In these three volumes, which form one continuous narrative, Tolkien created the saga of the hobbits of Middle-earth and the great War of the Rings.

"This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation.  Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other.:"  J.R.R. Tolkien

THE STORY OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

"It is beautiful... and enchanted tale of tragedy and triumph... The Silmarillion is magical in the old grand style... I adore it!"
Philadelphia Inquirer

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"O MIGHTY TOLKIEN!  PRINCE OF FANTASISTS!...  I have just been reveling in one of the greatest literary privileges and experiences of my life...  The Silmarillion... greater and more satisfying than both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings!"
Richard Adams,
Author of Watership Down

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"Majestic!.. readers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings... will find in The Silmarillion a cosmology to call their own... medieval romances, fierce fairy tales, and fiercer wars that ring with heraldic fury... it overwhelms the reader."
Time Magazine

AN INVITATION TO TOLKIEN'S WORLD

This rich treasury includes Tolkien's most beloved short fiction plus his essay on fantasy.

FARMER GILES OF HAM
An imaginative history of the distant and marvelous past that introduces the rather unheroic Farmer Giles, whose efforts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon will delight readers everywhere.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL
A collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, that staunch friend of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.

ON FAIRY-STORIES
professor Tolkien's now-famous essay on the form of the fairy story and the treatment of fantasy.

- And More -

BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT

The Two Towers is the second volume of "The Lord of the Rings": "Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart... good beyond hope."  C.S. Lewis

"This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation.  Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other.:"  J.R.R. Tolkien

THE BOOK OF LOST LEGENDS

Mythic lore and forgotten legends unearthed by Christopher Tolkien from his father's archives unveil stories of the three ages of ancient Middle-earth.

THE FIRST AGE

Young lord Turin fled from Morgoth's forces, wandering in disguise as an outlaw until he could avenge his people against the evil that had razed his home.  But Turin lived under the curse of a hateful dragon, and his secret identity hid more than he knew.

THE SECOND AGE

Prince Aldarion's heart belonged to Erendis, but his passion lay with the sea, and the great ships that sailed beyond the sight of land.  No man, however, could serve two mistresses, and no mortal love could withstand the lure of the sea.

THE THIRD AGE

The great warrior Isildur escaped with the One Ring, cut from the Dark Lord Sauron's hand - to hide it safely from Sauron's evil grasp.  But Isildur learned the burden of the ringbearer - of its temptation and despair. 
- And Much More -