The History of Middle-earth 5-Book Boxed Set: The Book of Lost Tales 1, The Book of Lost Tales 2, The Lays of Beleriand, The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Lost Road and Other Writings

by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

Overview

The extraordinary history of Middle-earth comes to life in this essential five-volume collection from the beloved author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
 
The History of Middle-earth chronicles the creation of the mythology, languages, and histories that form the foundation for Tolkien’s most beloved works—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. With painstaking documentation and analysis, Christopher Tolkien guides readers through his father’s legendarium.
 
The Book of Lost Tales, Part One & Part Two collect the early myths and legends that led to the writing of Tolkien’s epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.
 
The Lays of Beleriand includes two of Middle-earth’s most crucial stories—that of Túrin Turambar, a hero living under a ruinous family curse, and Lúthien, an elven princess whose love for a mortal man is mirrored ages later in the romance of Arwen and Aragorn—and sheds light on the creation of Tolkien’s mythology.
 
The Shaping of Middle-earth traces the development of Middle-earth’s earliest lore, from the sundering of the world to Beleriand and the events of The Silmarillion.
 
The Lost Road and Other Writings chronicles the original destruction of Númenor and includes essays on the complex languages of Middle-earth along with an extensive account of Elvish vocabularies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345466457
Publisher:	Random House Worlds
Publication date:	08/26/2003
Series:	History of Middle-earth Series
Edition description:	Boxed Set
Pages:	5
Sales rank:	79,543
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 7.00(h) x 4.30(d)

About the Author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. After serving in World War I, he embarked upon a distinguished academic career and was recognized as one of the finest philologists in the world. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. He is, however, beloved throughout the world as the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic works as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He died on September 2, 1973, at the age of eighty-one.

Date of Birth:

January 3, 1892

Date of Death:

September 2, 1973

Place of Birth:

Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (South Africa)

Place of Death:

Oxford, England

Education:

B.A., Exeter College, Oxford University, 1915; M.A., 1919

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
If reading J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga wasn't enough to satiate your hunger for Middle-earth, the five-volume Histories of Middle-earth box set is guaranteed to do the trick -- with dozens of lost tales, epic poems, maps, author notes, sketches, and a fully detailed history of Middle-earth!

The Book of Lost Tales (Part One and Two) not only contains the only full explanation of the fall of the secret elven city of Gondolin but also a fascinating account of the First Awakening of Men as told by the elf Gilfanon, as well as notes and commentary on the coming of the elves and the darkening of Valinor. The Lays of Beleriand features two epic poems dealing with the legends of the Elder Days: "The Lay of the Children of Hurin" in alliterative verse and "The Lay of Leithian" in octosyllabic couplets. The Shaping of Middle-earth contains prose fragments and historical tales of what would become The Silmarillion. Finally, The Lost Road and Other Writings is a companion work of sorts to C. S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. (In 1968, the two authors agreed to write tales about what Lewis termed "what we really like in stories." Lewis tried his hand at space travel, while Tolkien took on time travel. The resulting work was The Lost Road.)

Tolkien's Middle-earth is unarguably the most richly described and utterly complex realm in fantastical literature. Anyone who doubts this has only to read the books in this truly impressive five-volume set. Paul Goat Allen

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