New Tolkien Books:updates - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Mithalwen · 05-05-2007, 05:38 AM

Mine arrived this morning but I only got as far as the intro before life got in the way.

The binding is disappointing becasue although teh cloth back will endure better than paper it does make a hb first ed relatively ephemeral ...

since this is effectively one work in 2 volumes I humbly suggest that as with LOTR the index will be in PT 2? Inconvenient in the interim I admit, but not unreasonable.

davem · 05-05-2007, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

since this is effectively one work in 2 volumes I humbly suggest that as with LOTR the index will be in PT 2? Inconvenient in the interim I admit, but not unreasonable.

Well, maybe. It still means you'll need both volumes to hand to check what's in volume 1, so it'll be a bit inconvenient still. And it smacks laziness, or lack of care on the part of HC. All the volumes of HoM-e have separate indexes. And the quality of the binding is appalling for a book costing £20. This is a scholarly work & many copies will end up in Libraries & get a lot of use. I can see a lot of them ending up broken in half down the spine. This sort of book needs to open flat.

Actually, this is the kind of thing that needs to be released on CD rom (as does HoM-e) but that's another discussion.

Anyway, I've just had an email from Amazon informing me that delivery on the 70th anniversary edition of The Hobbit has been put back to July.

Mithalwen · 05-05-2007, 06:25 AM

The binding is annoying .... I am planning to take up book binding (still at the reading stage) partly becasue I have many old and indeed ancient volumes that need recovering and DIY is the economic option. Even very old volumes can be rebound relatively easily if they are sewn but this somewhat ironically named "perfect binding" cannot be so restored. Disappointing but alas in general hardbacks are a produced at a loss and so they cut corners. SinceI only paid £12 - barely more than a full price paperback, I am not too bothered. It was n impulse buy when I ordered Hurin and I don't know I would have got it if it had been a lot more ... maybe waited for the PB ..... but I think I shall enjoy it..

davem · 05-05-2007, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

. Disappointing but alas in general hardbacks are a produced at a loss and so they cut corners. SinceI only paid £12 - barely more than a full price paperback, I am not too bothered. It was n impulse buy when I ordered Hurin and I don't know I would have got it if it had been a lot more ... maybe waited for the PB ..... but I think I shall enjoy it..

I wonder when (or if) there will be a paperback. There may not be. Thing is, those who want this book would have paid an extra few quid to get it with a decent binding, & I'm not sure its the kind of thing that even fans of Tolkien will buy on impulse at £20 a copy. £40 is a lot of money for a study of TH. Can't help wondering whether HC were really all that bothered about publishing it at all. Not seen much in the way of promotion. Mind you, they've got new Tolkien stuff every month for most of this year -
next month History of TH vol 2,
July 70th anniversary h/b of TH, Children of Hurin calendar & diary,
August a hardback of Tolkien's Fairy stories (Roverandom, Smith, Niggle, AoTB),
September the CoH audiobook, &
October the revised edition of OFS & a new ed of Mr Bliss.

& maybe they've blown their Tolkien promo budget on CoH...

Mithalwen · 05-05-2007, 06:50 AM

maybe ..but I am sure that there were plenty like me who might not have rushed out to buy it but happily whacked it on to the CoH order as a linked deal...

davem · 05-06-2007, 10:37 PM

Full of interesting little gems - like the fact that the original name of Golfimbul the Orc beheaded by Bullroarer in the act that originated the game of golf, was originally named Fingolfin! Clearly Tolkien wanted a name that included the 'golf' element in order to make the joke work, but this (as Rateliff points out) is an odd choice of name for a goblin.

Rateliff makes a decent case for TH being set in the world of the Sil right from the start - the reference to Beren & Luthien, the similarity between the painting of Mirkwood Tolkien made for TH & the painting of Beleg & Gwindor in Taur nu Fuin being virtually identical, etc, & accounts for the repeated references to the primary world (the Hindu kush, China, Shetland ponies) as being down to the fact that the Legendarium always, right from the BoLT period was a mythic history of our world. I'm not convinced. Roverandom is the problem for Rateliff's theory. Unless one is willing to argue that Roverandom, with its references to Faerie in the West is also set in the world of the Sil, & hence part of the Legendarium as well, its difficult to justify including TH in there - at least not from its origin.

Clearly Tolkien wanted it to be a part after the success of LotR - which is why in Vol 2 we can look forward to two chapters of TH re-written in the style of LotR.

Estelyn Telcontar · 05-07-2007, 08:40 AM

I came back from the German Tolkien Seminar with a very interesting new publication by a small, specialized Swiss publishing company - Walking Tree Publishers. It's titled Roots and Branches, and is a collection of essays by Tom Shippey!! Many were published in obscure and hard-to-get publications, a number were given as speeches. I was excited to be able to read his paper on proverbiality in Tolkien from Birmingham 2005, since I wasn't able to attend his lecture then, and I'm looking forward to the rest as well.

I also bought Inside Language by Ross Smith - on linguistic and aesthetic theory in Tolkien. I have only peeked inside, so can't say anything about it yet. (Both above books are brand new, so not yet listed on the website, but it is possible for North American and British readers to order them, as they are printed on demand there as well as in continental Europe.)

Then I also brought the second volume of Tolkien and Modernity, which looks interesting, though I didn't buy it for that reason - I translated one paper in it from German into English! (A hard bit of work, if I may say so - academic German is rather difficult to translate!) Obviously, I did want to preserve a publication to which I contributed to show my grandchildren someday...

05-05-2007, 05:38 AM	#1
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Amazon you minx... Mine arrived this morning but I only got as far as the intro before life got in the way. The binding is disappointing becasue although teh cloth back will endure better than paper it does make a hb first ed relatively ephemeral ... since this is effectively one work in 2 volumes I humbly suggest that as with LOTR the index will be in PT 2? Inconvenient in the interim I admit, but not unreasonable. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace

05-05-2007, 06:25 AM	#3
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	The binding is annoying .... I am planning to take up book binding (still at the reading stage) partly becasue I have many old and indeed ancient volumes that need recovering and DIY is the economic option. Even very old volumes can be rebound relatively easily if they are sewn but this somewhat ironically named "perfect binding" cannot be so restored. Disappointing but alas in general hardbacks are a produced at a loss and so they cut corners. SinceI only paid £12 - barely more than a full price paperback, I am not too bothered. It was n impulse buy when I ordered Hurin and I don't know I would have got it if it had been a lot more ... maybe waited for the PB ..... but I think I shall enjoy it.. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace

05-05-2007, 06:50 AM	#5
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	maybe ..but I am sure that there were plenty like me who might not have rushed out to buy it but happily whacked it on to the CoH order as a linked deal... __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace

05-06-2007, 10:37 PM	#6
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Full of interesting little gems - like the fact that the original name of Golfimbul the Orc beheaded by Bullroarer in the act that originated the game of golf, was originally named Fingolfin! Clearly Tolkien wanted a name that included the 'golf' element in order to make the joke work, but this (as Rateliff points out) is an odd choice of name for a goblin. Rateliff makes a decent case for TH being set in the world of the Sil right from the start - the reference to Beren & Luthien, the similarity between the painting of Mirkwood Tolkien made for TH & the painting of Beleg & Gwindor in Taur nu Fuin being virtually identical, etc, & accounts for the repeated references to the primary world (the Hindu kush, China, Shetland ponies) as being down to the fact that the Legendarium always, right from the BoLT period was a mythic history of our world. I'm not convinced. Roverandom is the problem for Rateliff's theory. Unless one is willing to argue that Roverandom, with its references to Faerie in the West is also set in the world of the Sil, & hence part of the Legendarium as well, its difficult to justify including TH in there - at least not from its origin. Clearly Tolkien wanted it to be a part after the success of LotR - which is why in Vol 2 we can look forward to two chapters of TH re-written in the style of LotR. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."

05-07-2007, 08:40 AM	#7
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	I came back from the German Tolkien Seminar with a very interesting new publication by a small, specialized Swiss publishing company - Walking Tree Publishers. It's titled Roots and Branches, and is a collection of essays by Tom Shippey!! Many were published in obscure and hard-to-get publications, a number were given as speeches. I was excited to be able to read his paper on proverbiality in Tolkien from Birmingham 2005, since I wasn't able to attend his lecture then, and I'm looking forward to the rest as well. I also bought Inside Language by Ross Smith - on linguistic and aesthetic theory in Tolkien. I have only peeked inside, so can't say anything about it yet. (Both above books are brand new, so not yet listed on the website, but it is possible for North American and British readers to order them, as they are printed on demand there as well as in continental Europe.) Then I also brought the second volume of Tolkien and Modernity, which looks interesting, though I didn't buy it for that reason - I translated one paper in it from German into English! (A hard bit of work, if I may say so - academic German is rather difficult to translate!) Obviously, I did want to preserve a publication to which I contributed to show my grandchildren someday... __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'