After Tolkien: 1974-1976

Progress with the bibliography has been very slow lately - a new job is to blame! The last part to be revised and expanded was the 1974-1976 section. Included amongst the additions were:

Bilbo’s Last Song jigsaw
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Father Christmas jigsaw
Basic Quenya
C.S. Lewis: A Biography
J.R.R. Tolkien:Architect of Middle-earth
Modern Fantasy: Five Studies

Also added recently were the expanded edition of On Fairy-stories and the new paperback editions of:

The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
The Children of Húrin
The History of The Hobbit Part 1 and Part 2
LotR: A Reader’s Companion

Work is already underway on the 1977-1980 section. This should be completed in September.

More on the 2nd Edition Hobbit

It has been a quiet month at TolkienBooks.net. There have been just two updates to the bibliography, both courtesy of fellow collectors - THANK YOU!

First up is an image of A Spring Harvest by G.B. Smith, an anthology of poetry including an introductory note by JRRT. It is especially pleasing to see this very uncommon book at last! The second update relates to the First Paperback Edition of The Lord of the Rings. The size of the book was reduced from 210 x 140mm to 204 x 128mm beginning with the 4th Impression.

To compensate for the lack of activity I have extracted details of print run sizes for the Second American Edition of The Hobbit from correspondence between the publisher Houghton Mifflin and its British counterpart George Allen & Unwin. The information is taken directly from Allen & Unwin publishing ledgers and associated correspondence, and is presented here together with previously published details of the Second British Edition.

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A Guide to the HoMe Series

The latest update at TolkienBooks.net is largely concerned with the History of Middle-earth section of the site. While there are no new editions, all entries have been updated to the new style and format and details of the latest paperback impressions added.

A new page has been added to the Articles section to compliment this update to the bibliography. A Guide to the Contents of The History of Middle-earth gives details of the contents of each volume in the series. Each entry begins with a transcription of the tengwar inscription present on the title page and is followed by a list of the contents, starting with the frontispiece if present, all the way through to the Index. The content of each chapter is indicated by the title, and any additional items of interest are listed afterwards.

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J.R.R. Tolkien: Poet and Professor

This latest update to the bibliography covers the period 1925-1937.

Spanning the period from J.R.R. Tolkien becoming a Professor at Oxford until the publication of The Hobbit, this was perhaps the most productive period of his writing life: As well as publishing more than a dozen poems, revising and expanding ‘The Silmarillion’, and writing The Hobbit, Mr. Bliss and Roverandom, Tolkien was also making his professional name with the publication of an edition of Sir Gawain, and papers on subjects including the ‘AB Language’ and Beowulf.

New entries to the 1925-1937 section include:

Conversational Course: English - 1930 - This English language course by Linguaphone includes two recordings by Tolkien and Professor A. Lloyd James.

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