Supplementary literature

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Buying English books is one of the things I am looking forward to doing on my trip to London this month. I am planning to purchase HoME (I already have the basics, Hobbit/LotR/Sil/UT). I also have Carpenter's biography, Shippey's Author of the Century and Foster's Guide to M-E. I'd like to ask the experts which additional supplementary books they would recommend me to get - I'm sure there's much out there that is unnecessary or not well done enough to merit spending the money on it. Suggestions?

[ August 27, 2002: Message edited by: Estelyn Telcontar ]

[Mister Underhill]

Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-Earth is fun and detailed, if not always strictly accurate (or so I'm told).

[Child of the 7th Age]

The one other I would recommend that is still in print is J.R. Tolkien, Artist and Illustrator, by Wayne G.Hammond and Christina Scull, copyright 1995 by Houghton Mifflin. It's available in paper with a sticker price of $25. Hammond gives us over 200 reproductions by Tolkien, most of them illustrative of hobbit and LotR and the legends. My favorite picture is Halls of Manwe (Taniquetil). I actually have a reproduction of this from the Bodleian framed and hanging in my living room!

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for those suggestions for a start! How about Carpenter's book on the Inklings? Is it worth buying?

[littlemanpoet]

I think Carpenter's Inklings biography is very worthwhile reading. It may slay a few too many friendly dragons along the way (I speak of Dyson in particular), but all in all a good read.

[lindil]

The New Tolkien Companion [relatively rare] but much closer in spirit to the tales than Fosters Complete Guide.

Awesome cover art of gandalf and the Dwarves. THAT is how I picture M-E.

The real gem not included in HoME is the 'Osanwe-Kenta " wherein is described the nature and limitations of how the Valar,Eldar and to a lesser degree Men communicate mind ot mind. Only available [ leghallly] from www.elvish.org (http://www.elvish.org) in their jornal Vinyar Tengwar. Only 2 bucks [ US]but well worth whatever postage you may spend.

[ August 14, 2002: Message edited by: lindil ]

[mark12_30]

I ordered that essay on Osanwe-Kenta what seems like months ago (?), and I sure wish they'd get busy and ship it.

Are HoME 9 (Sauron Defeated), 10, 11, 12 available anywhere in paperback? Amazon has the hardcovers for $21 ea, but that means I have to budget for them and be patient. I'm already being "patient" about the O/K journal, I want HoME 9-12 NOW....

Watch it show up tomorrow, and I'll have to eat my words.

[Legolas]

Get Tolkien's Letters

[davem]

i'd suggest Patrick Curry's 'Defending Middle Earth' which is a good companion to Shippey's book.
If you've got the cash, a couple of very good books are 'Tolkien's Legendarium' & JRR Tolkien & his Literary Resonances'.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Davem -- Can you tell me anything about JRRT and his Literary Resonances? I've heard good things about it. (Shippey recomends it, for example.) But I haven't found a copy anywhere. I believe it's one of the Greenwood Press titles, which means it requires a fair amount of shekels to purchase. I already have the Legendarium, which I found quite interesting, although the linguistic stuff was heavy going.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Are HoME 9 (Sauron Defeated), 10, 11, 12 available anywhere in paperback?

I don't know about elsewhere, but in Great Britain the entirety of the Histories has just been reprinted in paperback form. Presumably if there isn't a US reprint yet there will be fairly soon.

[davem]

JRR Tolkien & his Lierary Resonances is from the same publisher & has contributions by most of the same people. Tom Shippey has a piece in it. its as the title implies - basically showing how Tolkien was influenced by various trends in literature from earlier periods - I've made it sound boring now, haven't I? smilies/smile.gif
Its definitely worth reading, but I'd get it from the library before you decide whether to buy. There's a good review on Amazon.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I'm back from London with a stack of books - 30 in all, 20 of them by or about Tolkien!! I would like to suggest that we use this thread to discuss and review supplementary Tolkien books and have changed the title to that end.

Here are the new books I got:
HoME - all 12 plus the index
Monsters and Critics - Tolkien
Tales from the Perilous Realm (includes Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wootton Major, Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Farmer Giles of Ham)
Letters - Carpenter
Inklings - Carpenter
Road to Middle-Earth - Shippey
Tolkien, A Celebration - Joseph Pearce
Defending Middle-Earth - Patrick Curry

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions; unfortunately, I could get no information on the Legendarium or on the Literary Resources book.

[Bêthberry]

Since you have already returned from your book-buying expedition to London, Estelyn, this suggestion is perhaps late, but nonetheless I think it really valuable to know Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Tales", which I don't see listed in this thread. (I am humbled and in great awe of that essay, which to my mind is one of the most perceptive analyses of fantasy I have ever seen, far surpassing most of the clever, jargon-ladden critical stuff produced by current lit crit.)

Also, "The Homecoming of Beorhtrnoth" is Tolkien's 'ending' for the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon; it has a bit of discussion on heroic and chivalric issues which relates to LOTR.

Bethberry

[ August 27, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks, Bethberry, I do have both of those in 'Tree and Leaf'.