David Day: Literary Burglar? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

**The Saucepan Man** · 10-05-2003, 07:14 PM

I have David Day's Tolkien Illustrated Encyclopedia, but since getting Tyler's Complete Tolkien Companion I rarely use it.

That is not to say that I had noticed any inaccuracies in Day's work (although, from what people have said, they clearly are there). It's just that Tyler's book offers a far more exhaustive and authoritative guide. My only problem with Tyler is that he does not provide references to the source material, whereas Day does.

It seems to me, though, that Day does not do any real harm. If people are interested enough in Tolkien's works, than they will read the original material (including the guides published by his son) and/or the many wise comments posted on sites such as this, and so will be aware of the inaccuracies. If they are not, then they will be none the wiser.

After all, who would really care that Tom Bombadil might not be a Maia except a real Tolkien afficionado? And a real Tolkien afficionado will be well aware of the shortcomings in that theory and probably has a theory of their own ... [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[ October 05, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

10-05-2003, 07:14 PM	#22
The Saucepan Man Corpus Cacophonous Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: A green and pleasant land Posts: 8,390	I have David Day's Tolkien Illustrated Encyclopedia, but since getting Tyler's Complete Tolkien Companion I rarely use it. That is not to say that I had noticed any inaccuracies in Day's work (although, from what people have said, they clearly are there). It's just that Tyler's book offers a far more exhaustive and authoritative guide. My only problem with Tyler is that he does not provide references to the source material, whereas Day does. It seems to me, though, that Day does not do any real harm. If people are interested enough in Tolkien's works, than they will read the original material (including the guides published by his son) and/or the many wise comments posted on sites such as this, and so will be aware of the inaccuracies. If they are not, then they will be none the wiser. After all, who would really care that Tom Bombadil might not be a Maia except a real Tolkien afficionado? And a real Tolkien afficionado will be well aware of the shortcomings in that theory and probably has a theory of their own ... [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] [ October 05, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ] __________________ Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!