There's a new Tolkien guide supposed to come out next spring that sounds fascinating to me:
J.R.R. Tolkien Companion (Two Volume Box Set) by Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull. Both members of this husband and wife team of librarians have been studying Tolkien for many years and have turned out some carefully researched articles and books. (Hammond's latest was on Tolkien as an illustrator.)
Esilda - This won't help your Christmas dilemma but it sounds like a set of books that will be very interesting for those looking for something further down the line. They take a different approach than either Foster or Tyler. The box set is already available for pre-order on Amazon with this description:
Quote:
Designed to be the essential reference works for all readers and students, these volumes present the most thorough analysis possible of Tolkien's work within the important context of his life.
The Reader's Guide includes brief but comprehensive alphabetical entries on a wide range of topics, including a who's who of important persons, a guide to places and institutions, details concerning Tolkien's source material, information about the political and social upheavals through which the author lived, the importance of his social circle, his service as an infantryman in World War I -- even information on the critical reaction to his work and the "Tolkien cult."
The Chronology details the parallel evolutions of Tolkien's works and his academic and personal life in minute detail. Spanning the entirety of his long life including nearly sixty years of active labor on his Middle-earth creations, and drawing on such contemporary sources as school records, war service files, biographies, correspondence, the letters of his close friend C. S. Lewis, and the diaries of W. H. Lewis, this book will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to gain a complete understanding of Tolkien's status as a giant of twentieth-century literature.
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The one drawback here is the price: a whopping $49.00 on Amazon (and that's discounted from the original $70.00). But it is possible to order only the reader's guide (as opposed to the chronology) for about half-price. Anyways it looks interesting and I'm already scraping my pennies together for the purchase.
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