The Lord of the Rings Souvenir booklet commemorating twenty five years of its publication

Notes
In this 16 page booklet, Humphrey Carpenter tells how The Lord of the Rings came to be written and published, and of its reception and fortunes since publication.

The booklet was distributed both separately and with the 25th Anniversary three-volume paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings.

The booklet includes numerous brief excerpts from letters and reproduces:

1) A manuscript page from The Lord of the Rings chapter The Shadow of the Past.

2) Page one of a letter to Rayner Unwin dated 24 October 1952 in which Tolkien discusses the possible publication of The Lord of the Rings. Much of the letter is included in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1981) – Letter 135.

3) Part of The Gods Return to Earth, a review of The Fellowship of the Ring by C.S. Lewis.

4) Part of A Boy’s World, a review of The Return of the King by Edwin Muir.

5) Part of At the End of the Quest, Victory, a review of The Return of the King by W.H. Auden.