Tolkien Writings: Table of contents

[Riv Res]

The History of Middle-Earth as a Resource

© Rabbit Ridge Art™

A couple of years ago I put together this quick reference guide on the contents of the Tolkien addendum writings. I had always found it invaluable whenever I was researching the details of his stories because so many references are in so many different volumes. I hope you find this reference helpful as well.

The Silmarillion

AINULINDALE

VALAQUENTA

Quenta Silmarillion
• I: Of the Beginning of Days
• II: Of Aule and Yavanna
• III: Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
• IV: Of Thingol and Melian
• V: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie
• VI: Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
• VII:Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
• VIII: Of the Darkening of Valinor
• IX: Of the Flight of the Noldor
• X: Of the Sindar
• XI: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
• XII: Of Men
• XIII: Of the Return of the Noldor
• XIV: Of Beleriand and its Realms
• XV: Of the Noldor in Beleriand
• XVI: Of Maeglin
• XVII: Of the Coming of Men into the West
• XVIII: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
• XIX: Of Beren and Luthien
• XX: Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
• XXI: Of Turin Turambar
• XXII: Of the Ruin of Doriath
• XXIII: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin
• XXIV: Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of wrath

AKALLABETH

OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE

Tables

Genealogies:
• I: The House of Finwe
• II: The Descendents of Olwe and Elwe
• III: The House of Beor
• IV and V: The House of Hador and the People of Haleth

The Sundering of the Elves

Notes on Pronunciation
Index of Names
Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names

Maps

The Realms of the Noldor and the Sindar
Beleriand and the Lands to the North

Unfinished Tales
of Numenor and Middle-earth

PART ONE: THE FIRST AGE

I: OF TUOR AND HIS COMING TO GONDOLIN
Notes

II: NARN I HIN HURIN
The Childhood of Turin – The Words of Hurin and Morgoth – The Departure of Turin – Turin in Doriath – Turin among the Outlaws – Of Mim the Dwarf – The Return of Turin to Dorlomin – The Coming of Turin into Brethil – The Journey of Morwen and Nienor to Nargothrond – Nienor in Brethil – The Coming of Glaurung – The Death of Glaurung – The Death of Turin
Notes
Appendix

PART TWO: THE SECOND AGE

I: A DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF NUMENOR
Notes

II: ALDARION AND ERENDIS: The Mariner’s Wife
Notes

III: THE LINE OF ELROS: KINGS OF NUMENOR
Notes

IV: THE HISTORY OF GALADRIEL AND CELEBORN and of Amroth King of Lorien
Notes
Appendices (Appendix A, The Silvan Elves and their Speech; Appendix B, The Sindarin Princes and the Silvan Elves; Appendix C, The Boundaries of Lorien; Appendix D, The Port of Lond Daer; Appendix E, The Names of Celeborn and Galadriel

PART THREE: THE THIRD AGE

I: THE DISASTER OF THE GLADDEN FIELDS
Notes
Appendix (Numenorean Linear Measures)

II: CIRION AND EORL AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF GONDOR AND ROHAN
• (i) The Northmen and the Wainriders
• (ii) The Ride of Eorl
• (iii) Cirion and Eorl
• (iv) The Tradition of Isildur
Notes

III: THE QUEST OF EREBOR
Notes
Appendix (Notes on the texts, and extracts from the earlier version)

IV: THE HUNT FOR THE RING
• (i) Of the journey of the Black Riders according to the account that Gandalf gave to Frodo
• (ii) Other Versions of the Story
• (iii) Concerning Gandalf, Saruman and the Shire
Notes

V: THE BATTLES OF THE FORDS OF ISEN
Notes
Appendix

PART FOUR

I: THE DRUEDAIN
Notes

II: THE ISTARI
Notes

III: THE PALANTIRI
Notes

The Book of Lost Tales: Part One

I: THE COTTAGE OF LOST PLAY
Notes and Commentary

II: THE MUSIC OF THE AINUR
Notes and Commentaries

III: THE COMING OF THE VALAR AND THE BUILDING OF VALINOR
Notes and Commentary

IV: THE CHAINING OF MELKO
Notes and Commentary

V: THE COMING OF THE ELVES AND THE MAKING OF KOR
Notes and Commentary

VI: THE THEFT OF MELKO AND THE DARKENING OF VALINOR
Notes and Commentary

VII: THE FLIGHT OF THE NODOLI
Notes and Commentary

VIII: THE TALE OF THE SUN AND MOON
Notes and Commentary

IX: THE HIDING OF VALINOR
Notes and Commentary

X: GILFANON’S TALE: THE TRAVAIL OF THE NODOLI AND THE COMING OF MANKIND
Notes

Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part One
Short Glossary of Obsolete, Archaic, and Rare Words

The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two

I: THE TALE OF TINUVIEL
Notes and Commentary

II: TURAMBER AND THE FOALOKE
Notes and Commentary

III: THE FALL OF GONDOLIN
Notes and Commentary

IV: THE NAUGLAFRING
Notes and Commentary

V: THE TALE OF EARENDEL

VI: THE HISTORY OF ERIOL OR AELFWINE AND THE END OF THE TALES
AElfwine of England

Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part Two
Short Glossary of Obsolete, Archaic, and Rare Words

The Lays of Beleriand

I: THE LAY OF THE CHILDREN OF HURIN
First version of the Children of Hurin
Prologue (Hurin and Morgoth)
• I: Turin’s Fostering
• II: Beleg
• III: Failivrin
Second version of the Children of Hurin
• I: (Hurin and Morgoth)
• II: Turin’s Fostering

II: POEMS EARLY ABANDONED
The Flight of the Nodoli
Fragment of an alliterative Lay of Earendel
The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin

III: THE LAY OF LEITHIAN
• I: (Of Thingol)
• II: (Gorlim’s betrayal and Beren’s revenge)
• III: (Beren’s meeting with Luthien)
• IV: (Beren before Thingol)
• V: (Luthien’s captivity at Doriath)
• VI: (Beren in Nargothrond)
• VII: (Beren and Felagund before Thu)
• VIII: (Luthien in Nargothrond)
• IX: (The defeat of Thu)
• X: (The attack of Celegorm and Curufin)
• XI: (The disguising of Beren and Luthien and the journey to Angband)
• XII: (Fingolfin and Morgoth; the meeting with Carcharoth)
• XIII: (Beren and Luthien in Angband)
• XIV: (Escape from Angband)
The unwritten cantos
Appendix: Commentary by C.S. Lewis

IV: THE LAY OF LETHIAN RECOMMENCED

Note on the original submission of The Lay of Leithian and The Silmarillion in 1937

Glossary of obsolete, archaic, and rare words, and meanings

The Shaping of Middle-earth

I: PROSE FRAGMENTS FOLLOWING THE LOST TALES

II: THE EARLIEST ‘SILMARILLION’
Commentaries

III: THE QUENTA
Commentary
Appendix 1: AElfwine’s translation of the Quenta into Old English; Old English equivalents of Elvish names.
Appendix 2: The Horns of Ylmir

IV: THE FIRST ‘SILMARILLION’ MAP

V: THE AMBARKANTA
Commentary

VI: THE EARLIEST ANNALS OF VALINOR
Commentary
Appendix: AElfwine’s translations of the Annals of Valinor into Old English

VII: THE EARLIEST ANNALS OF BELERIAND
Commentary
Second version of the earliest Annals
Commentary
Appendix: AElfwine’s translation of the Annals of Beleriand into Old English

The Lost Road
and Other Writings

PART ONE: THE FALL OF NUMENOR AND THE LOST ROAD

I: THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE LEGEND

II: THE FALL OF NUMENOR
• I: The original outline
• II: The first version of The Fall of Numenor
• III: The second version of The Fall of Numenor
• IV: The further development of The Fall of Numenor

III: THE LOST ROAD
• I: The opening chapters
• II: The Numenorean chapters
• III: The unwritten chapters

PART TWO: VALINOR AND MIDDLE-EARTH BEFORE THE LORD OF THE RINGS

I: THE TEXTS AND THEIR RELATIONS
II: THE LATER ANNALS OF VALINOR
III: THE LATER ANNALS OF BELERIAND
IV: AINULINDALE
V: THE LHAMMAS
VI: QUENTA SILMARILLION

PART THREE: THE ETYMOLOGIES

<CENTER>APPENDIX</CENTER>

I: THE GENEALOGIES
II: THE LIST OF NAMES
III: THE SECOND ‘SILMARILLION’ MAP

The Return of the Shadow

THE FIRST PHASE</CENTER>

I: A LONG-EXPECTED PARTY
II: FROM HOBBITON TO WOODY END
III: OF GOLLUM AND THE RING
IV: TO MAGGOT’S FARM AND BUCKLAND
V: THE OLD FOREST AND THE WITHYWINDLE
VI: TOM BOMBADIL
VII: THE BARROW-WIGHT
VIII: ARRIVAL AT BREE
IX: TROTTER AND THE JOURNEY TO WEATHERTOP
X: THE ATTACK ON WEATHERTOP
XI: FROM WEATHERTOP TO THE FORD
XII: AT RIVENDELL
<CENTER>- - - - - - - -</CENTER>
XIII: ‘QUERIES AND ALTERATIONS

<CENTER>THE SECOND PHASE</CENTER>

XIV: RETURN TO HOBBITON
XV: ANCIENT HISTORY
XVI: DELAYS ARE DANGEROUS
XVII: A SHORT CUT TO MUSHROOMS
XVIII: AGAIN FROM BUCKLAND TO THE WITHYWINDLE

{CENTER>THE THIRD PHASE</CENTER>

XIX: THE THIRD PHASE (1): THE JOURNEY TO BREE
XX: THE THIRD PHASE (2): AT THE SIGN OF THE PRANCING PONY
XXI: THE THIRD PHASE (3): TO WEATHERTOP AND RIVENDELL
<CENTER>- - - - - - - -</CENTER>
XXII: NEW UNCERTAINTIES AND NEW PROJECTIONS

<CENTER>THE STORY CONTINUED</CENTER>

XXIII: IN THE HOUSE OF ELROND
XXIV: THE RING GOES SOUTH
XXV: THE MINES OF MORIA

The Treason of Isengard

I: GANDALF’S DELAY
II: THE FOURTH PHASE (1): FROM HOBBITON TO BREE
III: THE FORUTH PHASE (2): FROM BREE TO THE FORD OF RIVENDELL
IV: OF HAMILCAR, GANDALF AND SARUMAN
V: BILBO’S SONG AT RIVENDELL: ERRANTRY AND EARENDILLINWE
VI: THE COUNCIL OF ELROND (1)
VII: THE COUNCIL OF ELROND (2)
VIII: THE RING GOES SOUTH
IX: THE MINES OF MORIA (1): THE LORD OF MORIA
X: THE MINES OF MORIA (2): THE BRIDGE
XI: THE STORY FORESEEN FROM MORIA
XII: LOTHLORIEN
XIII: GALADRIEL
XIV: FAREWILL TO LORIEN
XV: THE FIRST MAP OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS
XVI: THE STORY FORESEEN FROM LORIEN
XVII: THE GREAT RIVER
XVIII: THE BREAKING OF THE FELLOWSHIP
XIX: THE DEPARTURE OF BOROMIR
XX: THE RIDERS OF ROHAN
XXI: THE URUK-HAI
XXII: TREEBEARD
XXIII: NOTES ON VARIOUS TOPICS
XXIV: THE WHITE RIDER
XXV: THE STORY FORESEEN FROM FANGORN
XXVI: THE KING OF THE GOLDEN HALL
<CENTER>- - - - - - - -</CENTER>
APPENDIX ON RUNES

The War of the Ring

<CENTER>PART ONE: THE FALL OF SARUMAN</CENTER>

I: THE DESTRUCTION OF ISENGARD (Chronology)
II: HELM’S DEEP
III: THE ROAD TO ISENGARD
IV: FLOTSAM AND JETSAM
V: THE VOICE OF SARUMAN
VI: THE PALANTIR

<CENTER>PART TWO: THE RING GOES EAST</CENTER>

I: THE TAMING OF SMEAGOL
II: THE PASSAGE OF THE MARSHES
III: THE BLACK GATE IS CLOSED
IV: OF HERBS AND STEWED RABBIT
V: FARAMIR
VI: THE FORBIDDEN POOL
VII: JOURNEY TO THE CROSS-ROADS
VIII: KIRITH UNGOL

<CENTER>PART THREE: MINAS TIRITH</CENTER>

I: ADDENDUM TO ‘THE TREASON OF ISENGARD
II: BOOK FIVE BEGUN AND ABANDINED
• (i) Minas Tirith
• (ii) The Muster of Rohan
• (iii) Sketches for Book Five
III: MINAS TIRITH
IV: MANY ROADS LEAD EASTWARD (1)
V: MANY ROADS LEAD EASTWARD (2)
VI: THE SIEGE OF GONDOR
VII: THE RIDE OF THE ROHIRRIM
VIII: THE STORY FORESEEN FROM FORANNEST
IX: THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS
X: THE PYRE OF DENETHOR
XI: THE HOUSES OF HEALING
XII: THE LAST DEBATE
XIII: THE BLACK GATE OPENS
XIV: THE SECOND MAP

Sauron Defeated

<CENTER>PART ONE: THE END OF THE THIRD AGE</CENTER>

I: The Story of Frodo and Sam in Mordor
II: The tower of Kirith Ungol
III: The Land of Shadow
IV: Mount Doom
V: The field of Kormallen
VI: The Steward and the King
VII: Many Partings
VIII: Homeward Bound
IX: The Scouring of the Shire
X: The Grey Havens
XI: The Epilogue
Appendix: Drawings if Orthanc and Dunharrow

PART TWO: THE NOTION CLUB PAPERS</CENTER>

Introduction
Foreward and List of Members
The Notion Club Papers Part One
The Notion Club Papers Part Two
Major Divergences in Earlier Versions of Part Two
• (i) The earlier versions of Night 66
• (ii) The original version of Lowdham’s ‘Fragments’
• (iii) The earlier versions of Lowdham’s ‘Fragments’ in Adunaic
• (iv) Earlier versions of Edwin Lowdham’s Old English text
• (v) The page preserved from Edwin Lowdham’s manuscript written in Numenorean script

PART THREE: THE DROWNING OF ANADUNE

(i) The third version of The Fall of Numenor
(ii) The original text of The Drowning of Anadune
(iii) The second text of The Drowning of Anadune
(iv) The final form of The Drowning of Anadune
(v) The theory of the work
(vi) Lowdham’s Report on the Adunaic Language

Morgoth’s Ring

<CENTER>PART ONE</CENTER>

AINULINDALE

<CENTER>PART TWO</CENTER>

THE ANNALS OF AMAN

<CENTER>PART THREE
THE LATER QUENTA SILMARILLION</CENTER>

I: THE FIRST PHASE
• 1. Of the Valar
• 2. Of Valinor and the Two Trees
• 3. Of the Coming of the Elves
• 4. Of Thingol and Melian
• 5. Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalie
• 6. Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor
• 7. Of the Flight of the Noldor
• 8. Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

II: THE SECOND PHASE

The Valaquenta
The Earliest Version of the Story of Finwe and Miriel
Laws and Customs among the Eldar
Later versions of the Story of Finwe and Miriel
Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
Of the Darkening of Valinor
Of the Rape of the Silmarils
Of the Thieves’ Quarrel

<CENTER>PART FOUR</CENTER>

ATHRABETH FINROD AH ANDRETH

<CENTER>PART FIVE</CENTER>

MYTHS TRANSFORMED
Appendix: Synopsis of the Texts

The War of the Jewels

<CENTER>PART ONE</CENTER>

THE GREY ANNALS

<CENTER>PART TWO</CENTER>

<CENTER>THE LATER QUENTA SILMARILLION</CENTER>

• 9. Of Men
• 10. Of the Siege of Angband
• 11. Of Beleriand and its Realms
• 12. Of Turgon and the Building of Gondolin
• 13. Concerning the Dwarves
• 14. Of the Coming of Men into the West
• 15. Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
• The Last Chapters

<CENTER>PART THREE</CENTER>

<CENTER>THE WANDERINGS OF HURIN
AND OTHER WRITINGS NOT FORMING PART OF
THE QUENTA SILMARILLION</CENTER>

I: The Wanderings of Hurin
II: AElfwine and Dirhavel
III: Maeglin
IV: Of the Ents and the Eagles
V: The Tale of Years

<CENTER>PART FOUR</CENTER>

QUENDI AND ELDAR

The Peoples of Middle-earth

<CENTER>PART ONE</CENTER>

THE PROLOGUE AND APPENDICES TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS

I: The Prologue
II: The Appendix on Languages
III: The Family Trees
IV: The Calendars
V: The History of the Akallabeth
VI: The Tale of Years of the Second Age
VII: The Heirs of Elendil
VIII: The Tale of Years of the Third Age
IX: The Making of Appendix A
• (i) The Realms in Exile
• (ii) The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
• (iii) The House of Eorl
• (iv) Durin’s Folk

<CENTER>PART TWO</CENTER>

LATE WRITINGS

X: Of Dwarves and Men
XI: The Shibboleth of Feanor
XII: The Problem of Ros
XIII: Last Writings

<CENTER>PART THREE</CENTER>

TEACHINGS OF PENGOLOD

XIV: Dangweth Pengolod
XV: Of Lembas

<CENTER>PART FOUR</CENTER>

UNFINISHED TALES

XVI: The New Shadow
XVII: Tal-Elmar

[Merry]

You know, looking at it all in this form, there is a lot I haven't read! Thanks, Riv Res--I think this will be useful.

[Lindariel]

Thanks Riv! It is really great to see the contents of HOME laid out in this format. These books aren't cheap, and it is nice to be able to figure out which ones might be most useful for a particular path of study, rather than buying the entire lot (which I plan to do eventually as budget allows). I keep hoping some publisher will produce HOME as a reasonably-priced boxed set.

For those who want a wonderful glimpse into the mind of our beloved Professor, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you purchase a copy of

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter

Fascinating reading!

I also greatly enjoyed

The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology by Tom Shippey

Also mentioned elsewhere on this site but worth adding to our growing reference list here are the following books by David Day:

Tolkien's Ring

The Hobbit Companion

Both are absolutely marvelous and well worth having on your Tolkien shelf!

[Riv Res]

Thanks for the additions Lindariel. One of our ongoing projects that we are always meaning to update is the Tolkien Library, and these would make good additions.

I encourage anyone and everyone to take a look at the library and if you have the time and inclination, we would LOVE your help in writing summaries so that we can add to the library which is an excellent reference tool as well. Summaries are not hard to do. Just take a look and let us know if you are up to panning a few.

[Mithrennaith]

I will apologize in advance for sounding arrogant, but it is my sincere opinion that no list of recommended works on Tolkien and/or Middle-earth should contain any works by David Day. These works (many of which just repeat the same contents under a different title and cover) are shallow and inaccurate, often suggesting speculation as fact, which cannot be found in the primary sources, and even contain outright errors. I have found that those knowledgable in Tolkienian lore that I have met in Tolkien societies and on serious Tolkien boards are generally of the same opinion, and warn those who wish to acquire knowledge of Eä against his works.

I will just look at two pages of Characters from Tolkien, essentially the same work has been published as A Tolkien Bestiary, A Guide to Tolkien, A to Z of Tolkien and A Tolkien Encyclopedia. On p. 23 edain is given as the Sindarin equivalent of Quenya Atanatári, whereas it is the equivalent of Atani. In meaning however, it covers part of both those Quenya words, and this could have been explained more clearly.

Also, it says under ATANI "three times in the First Age an Atani lord wed an Elf-princess: ..... and Eärendil wed Elwing". Now it is clear that Tolkien himself never counted Eärendil and Elwing among the unions of Eldar and Edain, and indeed they were both Peredhil, Eärendil being heir of Turgon as much as Dior was of Thingol.

On the opposite page 22 under ARATAR, no mention is made of Melkor. This is a bit curious, as under VALAR, Melkor is named as one of the fifteen, without mentioning:

Melkor is counted no longer among the Valar, .....

Now, although the name Aratar is strictly applied only to the eight great Valar, yet the wording is:

Among them Nine were of chief power and reverence; but one is removed from their number, and Eight remain, the Aratar, the High Ones of Arda: .....

from which it is clear that there were originally nine, and Melkor was among them.

These are symptomatic of the work as a whole, and should suffice to show it is not worth spending time on an exhaustive commentary. Tolkien's Ring is a different work, and The Hobbit Companion partly so, yet they are of the same quality. These works do not belong in a serious Tolkien library, a few of them are in mine only so that I can substantiate warnings like these, and because I could pick them up for loose change.

The best encyclopedic reference work on Middle-earth is still Robert Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth, which, together with Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth should be at the top of any list of reference works. Following them should be Colin Duriez's The Tolkien and Middle-earth handbook or Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings (with considerable overlap in contents). Duriez is much less detaillistic than Foster, but gives more background, and the first title also deals with some of Tolkien's non-M-e works. On the maps side second place goes to Barbara Strachey's Journeys of Frodo. John Howe and Brian Sibley's Maps of Tolkien's Middle-earth are good and commendable, but no reference works.

Incidentally, Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth is from 1978, not 1971. That is the date of his Guide to Middle-earth, an earlier version which did not include information from The Silmarillion and a few minor sources. There was an even earlier version, published in a fanzine 1966-1969.

Tyler's Complete Tolkien Companion should be recommended only with caution. Not because it is slightly less detaillistic than Foster (you don't find all the Hobbits from the family trees, you do in Foster), there are other differences. Most important is that Foster, next to an encyclopedic dictionary is an index to the primary sources, which thus also serves as a reference to where Foster finds the facts that he states. Tyler only gives sources for very few of his statements. This is the more unfortunate, as he sometimes gives himself over to speculation, without indicating that in any way; the lack of references thus makes this very difficult to discover - making relying on Tyler rather hazardous at times.

The New Tolkien Companion (1979) is Tyler's second version, where information from The Silmarillion was added to The Tolkien Companion (1976), which preceded that work's publication. The Complete Tolkien Companion dates from 2002, and also includes information from Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth. However, Tyler's choice of what to include from these last two sources is rather curious, and not really explained. So when I use Tyler I usually check what I find through Foster, the Index to the History of Middle-earth and/or Hammond&Scull's indexes to LotR or the Letters.

I do use Tyler though, and for two reasons. First is that both The New and Complete Tolkien Companions have been translated into Dutch, as the Tolkien Lexicon, and I use this sometimes to compare the Dutch and English names. Its usefulness for this is reduced, however, by the curious fact that, although the Companion/Lexicon and the primary works were translated by the same man, some names have widely different translations! Secondly, Foster never went beyond The Complete Guide to Middle-earth to include Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth, as Tyler did. Again, this advantage has been reduced by the publication of the German translation of Foster, Das grosse Mittelerde Lexicon (confusing, those titles, aren't they?), where the translator did include Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth - and did a much better job than Tyler. But this translation of course uses German names.


Apart from Day, there is another well known work which should be warned against, instead of recommended, and which I already find in the Library here. This is Ruth S. Noel's The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth. I´ll refer you some other people this time: Carl Hostetter and Irene Gates. I'll add one further, non-linguistic point myself: Noel includes a consolidated genealogical chart of the Eldarin and Atanic ruling houses. A very great idea, but at first glance it looked to me poorly executed. Research revealed that even at the state of knowledge of 1974, when the first edition was issued, there were some gaffes and many typos in it. When Noel published a second edition in 1980, updated to include The Silmarillion, the chart was unchanged, despite the wealth of new genealogical information available.

The best book on Tolkien's languages is still Jim Allan's (ed.) Introduction to Elvish. Even though this was written before The Silmarillion was published, it is much better than Noel's second edition! For further works I will again refer you to Carl Hostetter. Not mentioned there are Edouard Kloczko's Dictionnaire des langues Elfiques and Dictionnaire des langues des Hobbits, des Nains, des Orques, because they, though excellent, and much more than dictionaries, are in French.


On an upbeat note, I like seeing Shippey's Author of the Century and Flieger's Splintered Light in the Library, Carpenter's Biography is also indispensable. Shippey's and Flieger's other books, The Road to Middle-earth and A question of time and Interrupted Music should also be there. Other 'musts' are: Hammond&Scull's Reader's Companion (which is to LotR what Anderson's annotations are to The Hobbit), their J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, their J.R.R. Tolkien, Artist and Illustrator (which reminds me that Pictures is missing from the primary works), John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War, John Rateliff's History of the Hobbit (which is to Hob what HoMe is to LotR and Sil), Hammond&Anderson's J.R.R. Tolkien, A Descriptive Bibliography, Marjorie Burns's Perilous Realms and Diana Pavlac Glyer's The Company they Keep, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community (on the Inklings).

[Merry]

Mithrennaith, feel free to submit entries for any of the sources that you think should be there. We have never claimed that The Tolkien Library is exhaustive, but merely represents what some of our members have had time and interest to do.

Your English is good! May I ask what your native language is? Is it Dutch? And have you read Tolkien in other languages than that? (A minor correction, since you are so attuned to language: 'detaillistic' is not an English word, although maybe it should be! I think 'detailed' would suffice in the same contexts.) I would love to read sometime about how reading Tolkien in other languages affects the meaning.

I agree with your assessments of the works I know about. I have not seen Allen's Elvish book (I wonder if it is available here in the US--I will look for it soon!), but I have been frustrated by Noel, too. I don't know much about Tolkien's languages, but it seemed to me that a linguist such as he was had to have done much more than what Noel described.

And I will have to say that, even though I'm pretty good at French, there are a lot of other things on my list to read ahead of an Elvish dictionary in French! My friends and family think I am obsessed enough as it is!

[Iolanthe]

Thanks Mithrennaith - this is a list that we've been meaning to add to but, I admit, we've somewhat neglected this thread . I've never got around to posting my favourites but Garth, Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth and everything by Hammond and Scull and Shippey would be topping my lists!

[Mithrennaith]

Ehrrrmm, maybe I'll have time to make one or two entries ... sometime ...

And yes, my native language is Dutch. But I've read Tolkien mainly in English. After reading a Dutch Hobbit and Fellowship as a child and unsuccessfully trying to get hold of the other volumes I bought and read about everything I could find in English (by that time my parents had bought a holiday home in England and I had started coming there several times a year). So I experienced Tolkien's works and made acquaintance with most of them in English. I even largely forgot about the Dutch Hobbit and Fellowship I'd read to the point of adopting a translation of 'Steward' different from the 'official' one.

Only when I became actively involved in the Dutch Tolkien Society did I start to acquire the Dutch translations. But I still use them more for reference and comparison than for reading the Tale. So I'm not really the right person to tell you about the experience of reading Tolkien in translation.

As to 'detaillistic' , well, it's makeable in English and somehow felt closer to what I wanted to express. But on consideration, 'detailed' is appropriate.

[Iolanthe]

Much better to read it in English! We all know how Tolkien agonised over misplaced efforts to translate his nomeclature. I believe the first ever translation - the Dutch one - gave him some grief at the time prompting lots of despairing letters until he'd made his point .

We'd love to see some book entries from you, Mithrennaith, or any reviews. Now I've been reminded of this thread I might add some myself!

[Mithrennaith]

I believe the first ever translation - the Dutch one - gave him some grief at the time prompting lots of despairing letters until he'd made his point .

Well, it seems Max Schuchart (the Dutch translator) made his point too: that when English as the language of fictional translation from the Westron is replaced by the target language of the actual translation the names from English nomenclature, which are fictionally translated from Westron nomenclature, must be actually translated to the target language as well. For later, when translations started to appear in languages that Tolkien could no longer supervise, he wrote his Nomenclature of LotR (aka Guide to Names) to instruct translators as to what to translate, and with what sense.

Tolkien had more trouble with Åke Ohlmarks, who made the second translation - the Swedish.

[Merry]

In the same vein, I've been reading The Annotated Hobbit for the first time, and it's interesting to look at the drawings from each of the many translations. Bilbo takes many different forms, obviously!

[Iolanthe]

My copy's arrived. I must sit down and have a proper look at it!

[Merry]

I seem to have turned the discussion to art! But I'd be very interested in your comments (maybe in another thread) on the different drawings, Iolanthe.

[Philipa]

I'd join that discussion too Merry..Iolanthe. Just start it up where appropriate.

[Ananya]

Hi All!

For those of you that are truly HARDCORE and want to organize your entire ME reading--from first to last--in complete and total chronological order (that would be Middle earth timeline chronology, not Tolkien's publishing chronology) there is a way to notate your texts so you can literally jump around from text to text and read each event of middle earth in chron order.

It is an interesting exercise (may even motivate you to read the entire body of his works...maybe. I'm still working on it). However, it requires that you have all of your texts ready: The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Húrin, The Hobbit, and the three volumes (or just one, if that is your version) of The Lord of the Rings

You will be noting things in the margins, so if these are books you can't bear to write in, get yourself some "working" copies for this exercise.

You'll definitely feel like a Tolkien nerd (or geek, if that is your preference) after this.

http://www.chronology.org/tolkien/