THE J. R. R. TOLKIEN COMPANION AND GUIDE: Boxed Set - part III (11.10.06)

In the previous article I announced the publication of The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide on 2 October 2006 (with possible delay). Some people sent me emails to ask where to find the book because they could not find it in their local bookstore. When amazon started sending out emails that the pre-orders could not be delivered in time I got a lot of panic emails. So here I am with an update; the publication of the book set has indeed been delayed until 2 November (UK). But there is also good news! At the website of the authors we can read the following, here reproduced with their permission:

“We have finally completed The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide after some seven years of work, interrupted by more time-sensitive projects and, in its final stage, by illness: Christina had urgent open heart surgery in early August. (Wayne continued to work on the index on a laptop at Christina's bedside in hospital, and completed final editing and typesetting after Christina returned home on 10 August.) HarperCollins U.K. plan to publish the Companion and Guide on 2 November 2006, and Houghton Mifflin in the U.S. later that month. Included in its two volumes (some 2,300 pages) are a lengthy chronology of Tolkien's life and works, checklists and descriptions of his writings, and notes on significant persons, places, issues, and events. Although the two volumes of the Companion and Guide are intended to be used in conjunction with each other, they will be sold separately as well as in a boxed set. Images of the upper jackets, and of the slipcase spine, are shown below."

"While working on the Companion and Guide we edited the 50th anniversary edition of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, with the approval of Christopher Tolkien, to ensure the most accurate version to date. This was published in 2004. A new printing, with further corrections and a new, much enlarged index, appeared in 2005. Our separate volume of annotations to The Lord of the Rings, entitled The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, was published by HarperCollins in the U.K. and Houghton Mifflin in the U.S. in 2005. HarperCollins offer this both in hardback and paperback, separately and in boxed sets with The Lord of the Rings. Houghton Mifflin have published only in hardback."

We have also copy-edited for Marquette University Press the twenty papers presented at the October 2004 Tolkien conference held in Milwaukee, The Lord of the Rings, 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder. This is available from the publisher; see more information here. The volume includes our own papers, "What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?: Planning, Inspiration, and The Lord of the Rings" (Christina) and "Special Collections in the Service of Tolkien Studies" (Wayne).

Oak Knoll Press have expressed interest in a second edition of Wayne's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. He had hoped to begin work on this by now (and has been gathering information for it), but our books for HarperCollins have been more urgent and time-sensitive. Meanwhile, Oak Knoll have taken this back to press for a third printing.

With more immediate Tolkien projects out of the way, we have resumed work on an annotated collection catalogue of the artist Pauline Baynes, and are gathering material from the past several years to resume publication of The Tolkien Collector.”All good news in the end!On 2 November we will finally see the book set, and at the end of the same month it will also be available across the Atlantic. I remember first seeing the announcement for the Houghton Mifflin edition back in 2003 in Houghton Mifflin's 2003 LoTR Catalogue. Since then I must have announced the book for many times… so waiting for a couple of weeks more will not make the big difference. What will be different is that in stead of 800 pages (as announced in 2003) we will have a 2300 pages to read and the book will be indeed the most comprehensive, in-depth reference ever published. If you take a good look at the List of Topics for Vol. 2 the Reader’s Guide we can see that the book will cover every topic and will bring us a lot of new insight and information. Some topics like “Arthur and the Matter of Britain”, “Atlantis” will really be interesting; maybe we will see some questions answered there. I’m very happy to see the names of many places mentioned in UK and abroad, also here I think we will get some new information. The topics list of Vol II is impressive, now we only have to wait for the publication to start reading.

Summary of the books and expectationsFrom press releases in the past (and some recent communications with the authors) I will here try to give a small summory of what we can expect. Tolkien's progress is traced from his birth in South Africa in 1892, to the battlefields of France and the lecture-halls of Leeds and Oxford, to his success as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, until his death in 1973. His many academic and literary achievements, his public reception, and his enduring fame are examined in detail.

The first volume in this set is a Chronology of Tolkien's life and works, the most extensive biographical resource about him ever published. Thousands of details have been drawn from letters, contemporary documents in libraries and archives, and a wide variety of other published and unpublished sources. Assembled together, they form a portrait of Tolkien in all his aspects: the distinguished scholar of Old and Middle English, the capable teacher and administrator, the devoted husband and father, the brilliant creator of Middle-earth.

The second volume, the Reader's Guide, is an indispensable introduction to Tolkien's life, writings, and art. It includes histories and discussions of his works; analyses of the components of his vast 'Silmarillion' mythology; brief biographies of persons important in his life; accounts of places he knew; essays on topics such as Tolkien's interests and attitudes towards contemporary issues, ideas found in his works, adaptations, and invented languages; and checklists of his published works, his poetry, his pictorial art, and translations of his writing.

Wayne Hammond drafted most of the entries on people and on Tolkien's individual works, while Christina compiled the first version of the chronology and did most of the entries on places and influences and all of the very substantial work on the "Silmarillion" material through its different versions; but the final product was entirely a joint effort.

Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond worked in many libraries, and were in contact with others they couldn't visit. We  can assume that the final covers are as we see them reproduced here. Wayne Hammond did the interior design and typesetting; as both volumes ran much longer than expected, there was no room for pictures (the only sad point about the books I think, maybe there should be made a deluxe edition with pictures).

List of Topics in Vol. 2 (Reader’s Guide) of The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond

[Titles of works beginning ‘Of’ are alphabetized by the following word.]

AAbercrombie, LascellesAce Books controversyAcocks Green (Warwickshire)Acta SenatusAdaptationsThe Adventures of Tom BombadilThe Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red BookAe Adar Nín: The Lord’s Prayer in SindarinAinulindalëAkallabêth: The Downfall of NúmenorAlcar mi Tarmenel na Erun: The Gloria in Excelsis Deo in QuenyaAldarion and Erendis: The Mariner’s WifeAldershot (Hampshire)AllegoryAmanAmbarkanta: The Shape of the World‘Analysis of fragments of other languages found in The Lord of the Rings’Ancrene RiwleAncrene Wisse and Hali MeiðhadAnnals of BeleriandAnnals of ValinorAppearanceAn Application for the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford by J.R.R. Tolkien, Professor of the English Language in the University of Leeds, June 25, 1925ArtArthur and the Matter of BritainAthrabeth Finrod ah AndrethAtlantisAttacks of TasteAuden, Wystan Hugh‘Of Aulë and Yavanna’

BBarfield, Arthur OwenBarnsley, Thomas KennethBarnt Green (Worcestershire)Barrowclough, SidneyThe Battle of the Eastern FieldThe Battles of the Fords of IsenBaynes, Pauline DianaBedford (Bedfordshire)‘Of the Beginning of Days’‘Of Beleriand and Its Realms’BelgiumBennett, Henry StanleyBennett, Jack Arthur WalterBeowulfBeowulf: The Monsters and the Critics‘Of Beren and Lúthien’BerkshireBibliographiesThe Bidding of the Minstrel, from the Lay of EärendelBilbo’s Last Song (at the Grey Havens)BiographiesBirmingham and environsBirmingham OratoryBlackwell, Basil HenryBliss, Alan JosephBombadil Goes BoatingThe Book of Lost TalesThe Book of Lost Tales, Part OneThe Book of Lost Tales, Part TwoBournemouth (Hampshire)Bradley, HenryBraunholtz, Gustav Ernst KarlBrett-Smith, Herbert Francis BrettBrewerton, GeorgeBrogan, Denis Hugh VercingetorixBrookes-Smith familyBryson, John NormanBurchfield, Robert William

CCalligraphyCambridge (Cambridgeshire)Campbell, AlistairCampbell, Ignatius Roy DunnachieCarr, CharlieCarter, DouglasCatCecil, Edward Christian David GascoyneCeltic influencesChambers, Raymond WilsonChandler, PamelaChaucer, GeoffreyChaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve’s TaleCheddar Gorge and Caves (Somerset)Cheltenham (Gloucestershire)Chesterton, Gilbert KeithChilde, Wilfred Rowland MaryChildrenThe Children of Húrin [= The Lay of the Children of Húrin]CírdanCirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and RohanThe City of the Gods  Classical influencesThe Clerke’s CompleinteClevedon (Somerset)Coghill, Nevill Henry Kendal AylmerCollecting and sales‘Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor’‘Of the Coming of Men into the West’The Converse of Manwë and EruCornwallCorrected Names of Chief ValarCraigie, William AlexanderThe Creatures of the EarthCriticismCromer (Norfolk)CuivienyarnaCullis, Colin

DDagnall, Margery Kathleen Mary, known as SusanDangweth PengoloðDarbishire, HelenD’Arcy, Martin CyrilD’Ardenne, Simonne Rosalie Thérèse Odile‘Of the Darkening of Valinor’Davis, NormanDawkins, Richard MacGillivrayDay, MabelA Description of the Island of NúmenorThe Devil’s Coach-horsesThe Disaster of the Gladden FieldsDisney StudioDobson, Eric JohnDomestic dutiesDoworstThe Dragon’s VisitDragonsDramaThe Drowning of AnadûnêDundas-Grant, James HaroldOf Dwarves and MenDyson, Henry Victor Dyson

EÉalá Éarendel Engla BeorhtastEarendel at the Helm‘Early Chart of Names’‘Early Noldorin Grammar’‘Early Qenya Pronouns’Earp, Thomas WadeEddison, Eric Rucker‘Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië’Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals‘Elvish Reincarnation’Elvish Song in RivendellEmery, AugustineThe End of the Third Age: The History ofThe Lord of the Rings, Part IVEnglandEnglish and Medieval Studies Presented to J.R.R. Tolkien on the Occasion of His Seventieth BirthdayEnglish and WelshEnglish language‘English–Qenya Dictionary’Enigmata Saxonica Nuper Inventa DuoOf the Ents and the EaglesEnvironmentEriol and ÆlfwineErrantryEscapeEtymologiesEucatastropheAn Evening in TavrobelEverett, DorothyExaminations

FFairford (Gloucestershire)Fairy-storiesThe FallThe Fall of NúmenorFandomFarmer Giles of HamFarnell, Lewis RichardFarrer, Katharine DorothyFastitocalonThe ‘Father Christmas’ letters‘Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor’‘Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad’Filey (Yorkshire)Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the EpisodeFirth, Charles HardingThe Five WizardsFletcher, Ronald Frank William‘Flight of the Gnomes’The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor‘Of the Flight of the Noldor’Folkestone (Kent)Food and drinkFor W.H.A.A Fourteenth-Century RomanceFox, AdamFranceFraser, JohnFree will and FateFrom the Many-Willow’d Margin of the Immemorial Thames

GGale, St TeresaGardner, Helen LouiseGedling (Nottinghamshire)‘Gerald of Wales on the Survival of Welsh’Gilson, Robert CaryGilson, Robert QuilterGlipGlorfindel‘The Gnomes Come to the Great Lands’Gnomish GrammarGnomish LexiconGoblin FeetGollins, AnnieGood and EvilGordon, Eric ValentineGordon, George StuartGrahame, KennethGreen, Roger Gilbert LancelynThe Grey Bridge of TavrobelGriffiths, Mary ElaineGrove, Jennie

HHabbanan beneath the StarsHaggard, Henry RiderHalsbury, John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, Earl ofThe Happy MarinersHardie, Colin GrahamHarrogate (Yorkshire)Havard, Robert EmlynHealthThe Heirs of Elendil‘Heraldic Devices of Tol Erethrin’Hill, Margaret JoyHistorical and cultural influencesThe History of Galadriel and Celeborn and of Amroth King of LórienThe History of Middle-earthThe History ofThe Lord of the RingsThe HoardThe HobbitHoly MaidenhoodThe Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s SonHope and DespairThe Horns of YlmirHove (Sussex)The Hunt for the Ring

IIllustrationImramIncledon family‘Index of Names for The Lay of the Children of Húrin’The InklingsIreland, Republic of (Eire)‘Iþþlen’ inSawles WardeIumbo, or ye Kinde of ye OliphauntOliphaunt

JJ.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and IllustratorJennings, Elizabeth JoanThe Jerusalem BibleJones, Gwyn

KKalevalaKatherine GroupKer, Neil RipleyKing Edward’s School, Birmingham

LLancashire FusiliersLang, AndrewLanguagesLanguages, InventedLascelles, Mary MadgeThe Last ArkThe Last ShipLaws and Customs among the EldarThe Lay of Aotrou and Itroun‘Lay of Eärendel’Lay of LeithianThe Lay of the Fall of GondolinThe Lays of BeleriandLea, Kathleen MargueriteLeaf by NiggleLeeds (Yorkshire)Leeds, University ofLeeds University Verse, 1914–24Of LembasThe Letters of J.R.R. TolkienLewis, Clive StaplesLewis, Warren HamiltonTheLhammasLibraries and archivesLightLight as Leaf on LindentreeLincoln (Lincolnshire)The Line of Elros: Kings of NúmenorThe Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa TyaliévaLondonThe Lonely IsleThe Lord of the RingsLossThe Lost RoadThe Lost Road and Other WritingsLyme Regis (Dorset)

MMcCallum, Ronald BuchananMacDonald, GeorgeMcFarlane, Kenneth BruceMadlener, Josef‘Of Maeglin’Of Maeglin: Sister-son of Turgon, King of GondolinMagicMalvern (Worcestershire)The Man in the Moon Came Down Too SoonThe Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too LateMS. Bodley 34: A Re-Collation of a CollationMasefield, John Edward‘Matar and Tulir’Mathew, Anthony GervaseMelkor Morgoth‘Of Men’The MewlipsMiddle English ‘Losenger’A Middle English VocabularyMilford-on-Sea (Hampshire)Mills, Stella MarieMr. BlissMitchison, Naomi Mary MargaretThe Monsters and the Critics and Other EssaysMorgan, Francis XavierMorgoth’s Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One: The Legends of AmanMorris, WilliamMortality and ImmortalityMurray, Robert Patrick RuthvenMusicMythopoeia

N‘Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin’The Name ‘Nodens’The Nameless LandNamesNames and Required Alterations‘Names of the Valar’Napier, Arthur SampsonNarn i Chîn HúrinNarqelionNatureNeave, Emily JaneNesbit, EdithNetherlandsA New Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield DistrictThe New ShadowNewby, Percy HowardNichol Smith, DavidNieninque‘Noldorin Dictionary’‘Noldorin Word-lists’Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings‘Of the Noldor in Beleriand’A Northern VentureNorthernnessNotes on Motives in the SilmarillionNotes on ÓreThe Notion Club PapersNúmenorNúmenórean Linear Measures

OOfficial Name ListThe Old English Apollonius of TyreThe Old English ExodusOliphauntOn Fairy-StoriesOnce upon a TimeOnions, Charles TalbutOrcsÓsanwe-kentaQuendi and EldarOtley (Yorkshire)‘Otsan and Kainendan’Over Old Hills and Far AwayOxford and environsOxford, University ofOxford English DictionaryOxford English MonographsOxford English SchoolThe Oxford English SchoolOxford Letter

PThe PalantíriPayton, Ralph S.Payton, Wilfrid HughPearlThe Peoples of Middle-earthPerry-the-WinklePhilologyPictures by J.R.R. TolkienPity and MercyPoems and StoriesThe Poetic and Mythologic Words of EldarissaPoetryPolitical thoughtPoole (Dorset)PossessivenessPowerPrefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of ‘Beowulf’Prejudice and RacismPrincess MeeThe Princess NíThe Problem of RosProgress in Bimble TownPublishers

QQenya: Descriptive Grammar of the Qenya LanguageThe Qenya Verb FormsQenyaqetsaQuantock Hills (Somerset)Quendi and EldarQuenta Noldorinwa‘Quenta Silmarillion’Quenta SilmarillionQuestThe Quest of Erebor

RRaleigh, Walter AlexanderRansome, Arthur MichellReade, Francis VincentReadingRecordingsRecoveryRednal (Worcestershire)The Reeve’s TaleReincarnation of ElvesReligionResearch v. Literature‘Of the Return of the Noldor’The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part OneReynolds, Richard WilliamRice-Oxley, LeonardRidley, Maurice RoyOf the Rings of Power and the Third AgeThe Rivers and Beacon-hills of GondorThe RoadThe Road Goes Ever On: A Song CycleRoverandom‘Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin’‘Of the Ruin of Doriath’

SSalu, Mary BerthaSarehole (Warwickshire)Sauron Defeated: The End of the Third Age (The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Four); The Notion Club Papers and The Drowning of AnadûnêSayer, George Sydney BenedictScienceScotlandThe SeaThe Sea-BellA Secret ViceShadow-BrideThe Shaping of Middle-Earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta and the Annals Together with the Earliest ‘Silmarillion’ and the First MapThe Shibboleth of FëanorThe Shores of Faery‘Sí Qente Feanor’Sidmouth (Devon)Sigelwara Land‘The Silmarillion’The Silmarillion‘Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor’Simpson, Percy‘Of the Sindar’Sir Gawain and the Green KnightSir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir OrfeoSir OrfeoSisam, KennethSketch of the MythologySmith, Albert HughSmith, Geoffrey BacheSmith of Wootton MajorSmithers, Geoffrey VictorSmokingSocieties and clubsSome Contributions to Middle-English LexicographyA Song of AryadorSongs for the PhilologistsSource-huntingSouth AfricaSpidersSportsStaffordshireStevens, Courtenay EdwardStewart, John Innes MackintoshThe Stone TrollStonyhurst (Lancashire)Sub-creationSuffield family‘Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor’Sun The Trees SilmarilsSwann, Donald IbrahimSwitzerland‘Synopsis of Pengoloð’s Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi’

TTal-ElmarThe Tale of YearsTales and Songs of Bimble BayTales from the Perilous RealmT.C.B.S.‘Of Thingol and Melian’Thompson, William MeredithTidworth (Wiltshire)Tinfang WarbleTolkien familyTolkien, Arthur ReuelTolkien, Christopher ReuelTolkien, Edith MaryTolkien, Hilary Arthur ReuelTolkien, John Francis ReuelTolkien, MabelTolkien, Michael Hilary ReuelTolkien, Priscilla Mary ReuelTolkien on TolkienThe Tolkien ReaderThe Town of Dreams and the City of Present SorrowTranslationsTravel and transportThe Treason of Isengard: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part TwoTree and LeafThe Trees of KortirionTrought, VincentOf Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin‘Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin’‘Of Túrin Turambar’Turlin and the Exiles of GondolinTurville-Petre, Edward Oswald GabrielTurville-Petre, Joan Elizabeth

UUnfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthUnwin, Rayner StephensUnwin, Stanley

VValaquentaValedictory Address to the University of Oxford‘Variation D/L in Common Eldarin’‘Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath’

WWade-Gery, Henry TheodoreWain, John BarringtonWaldman, MiltonWalesThe Wanderings of HúrinWarThe War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two: The Legends of BeleriandThe War of the Ring: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part ThreeWardale, Edith ElizabethWarwick (Warwickshire)West MidlandsWeston-super-Mare (Somerset)Whitby (Yorkshire)Whitelock, DorothyWilkinson, Cyril HackettWilliams, Charles Walter StansbyWilson, Frank PercyWiseman, Christopher LukeWomen and marriage‘Words of Joy’Wrenn, Charles LeslieWright, JosephWriting systemsWyke-Smith, Edward AugustineWyld, Henry Cecil Kennedy

XYZThe Year’s Work in English StudiesYorkshire

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