The Complete History Of Middle-Earth

The History of Middle-Earth #1-12

by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

The complete 12-book History of Middle-earth, printed in three volumes and set in a matching box. J.R.R. Tolkien is famous the world over for his unique literary creation, exemplified in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. What is less well known, however, is that he also produced a vast amount of further material that greatly expands upon the mythology and numerous stories of Middle-earth, and which gives added life to the thousand-year war between the Elves and the evil spirit Morgoth, and his terrifying lieutenant, Sauron. It was to this enormous task of literary construction that his Tolkien's youngest son and literary heir, Christopher, applied himself to produce the monumental and endlessly fascinating series of twelve books, The History of Middle-earth. This very special collector's edition brings together all twelve books into three hardback volumes -- over 5,000 pages of fascinating Tolkien material -- and places them in one matching box.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Classics, Epic Fantasy, Novels, High Fantasy

5392 pages, Hardcover

Published October 27, 2011

About the author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.

Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.

Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.

Reviews

[Tieria's · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm using this collective edition of the History because I simply don't have time to address each volume separately. When I first learned of this collection, I thought it was for high-end Tolkien fanatics, and never considered myself to be such. A couple of years and re-readings of the Silmarillion later, I found I wanted more, and I bought the first four volumes on sale in a boxed set. I am now finishing up volume 11.

These books are a fascinating look at the methods of an author whose most important - as he considered it - work evolved with him throughout his whole life. His insistence that only a complete, fleshed-out mythology could sufficiently provide a backstory for main events led him down paths that produced some of the most exquisite short writings of all - finished or unfinished, and ultimately gave the richness of background to the "interruption" of The Lord Of The Rings. (The volumes dealing with its origin and growth were quite an eye-opener.) In one volume, Christopher Tolkien includes the results of a little writing competition that Prof. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis challenged each other with. Tolkien's portion of this is not only a touching moment in the doomed tale of Numenor, but it offers an amazing glimpse of what I can only assume is a younger version of himself, haunted by a new language (ultimately Quenya) that keeps feeding itself into his head will he or nil he, until he is forced to write it all down and begin organizing it.

I have revised my opinion of who might enjoy this book - if you've read LOTR more than four times and wish there were more, I recommend at least reading the three volumes that deal with the writing of The Hobbit and LOTR. However, if you love the Silmarillion, you simply can't afford to pass this collection up.

I will add that the final volume is REALLY for hardcore fans only. It deals with the compilation of the Appendices of LOTR. If you skipped these, go back and read them before you tackle "The Peoples of Middle Earth".

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not an easy read and should not be the first book to read if you're new to Tolkien, in fact, it should probably be last, after you've read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, then The Silmarillion and probably Unfinished Tales.

It is an in-depth account of the First Age and the conflict between Morgoth and the elves, men and other gods. It is an awe-inspiring epic of stupendous scale, and it is hard to believe that one man and his fantastical fantasy mind created such a world. If only such tales as The Fall of Gondolin, or Turin Turumbar could be made into movies, what a film they would be!

The only slight issue I had was it was quite repetitive towards the end, a continual retelling of the same stories, just little tweaks here and there - but that's what makes it interesting to a Tolkien fan, the differences, but towards the end I was skimming pages quite often... yet I didn't mind. Because after you've read about a battle between hundreds of Balrogs, fire drakes and valiant elves you've got your money's worth ten times over.

Now onto volumes two and three.

[m&gs · Rating 4 out of 5]

finishing this after having mostly read za feels like having had 10 diff lobotomies

[PleaseJustLetMeRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intenst, super-nørdet, men også en læseoplevelse uden lige, hvis man interesserer sig for worldbuilding. Det er omfattende og tungt, men der er også rigtig mange detaljer med, som vi kun kort får lov at snuse til i de andre af Tolkiens værker - men som for alvor for lov at udfolde sig her. Det er ikke sikket, jeg kommer til at kaste mig over dem igen foreløbigt. Men jeg er godt tilfreds med at det trods alt blev gjort denne gang, selvom bøgerne har været lidt intimiderende at have stående på hylden.

[Gerald R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long, interesting for those fan who want to know all about middle-earth.

[Thijs · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 year. That's how much it cost me to finish this bad boy. 12 months, 1 part a month. And boy, was it a journey. A truly marvelous and epic journey through Tolkien's work and his own insights. Which I will try to summarize in some highlights.

Let me begin to say that somewhere within these 5392 pages, there are THE TWO ONLY whole DIRECT MENTIONS OF SEX in ALL of the works of Tolkien. Now where they are I shall not spoil, that is for you to read and find out.

Second only to this, I shall say that this tome is only for the die-hard Tolkien fans. If you haven't read at least the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, this book is not for you (yet).

This book, or series I should say, cover the writing of the Legendarium from its conception through various intermitten stages to his final work. In 2 regards is this work highly interesting: In the journey the material went through from the primitive initial story to the final (latest would be more accurate) word Tolkien wrote on it, which was often not the final word he intended. The second regard is the vast amount of new material and writings that have never been released and are simply amazing, eye opening and very enriching. Unfinished Tales doesn't even come close to covering it all.

So, let me begin with the CHANGES:
- Honestly, the whole conception on is interesting, but mostly so perhaps where it starts: The Book of Lost Tales seems like a completely different story altogether. And it has come a long way since, but the early stage still has a lot of good stuff, some of which I was sad to see go.
- The development of Orodreth/Celegorm is a very interesting journey with a great twist. I won't spoil it, but be on the look out for the tale of Nargothrond!
- The origin of Trotter and the Hobbit Peregrin Boffin, which alas was cut from Lord of the Rings
- Alas also to my favourite cut Dwarf Burin son of Balin. I still hope he existed in Moria, but was just never mentioned in the Book of Mazarbul.
- Also RIP Bingo Bolger-Baggins, but that one only for the best.
- Drowning of Anadune: Honestly any part that elaborates on the 2nd age and Numenor is a blast in my view. With the Silmarillion and LotR and Hobbit the 1st and 3rd Ages are well enough covered, but not so the 2nd Age. This underdog status has always made it a favourite of mine.
- The development of the maps. The maps change with the change in the story, but the story also changes because of the maps. And showing how the one affects the other is interesting.
- The annals, which shows more globally changes made to the legendary.

NEW MATERIAL:
- The Tale of Luthien and Beren in verse form is a thing apart. How I wished it was finished in full.
- The Full tale of the Fall of Gondolin
- The Lost Road: Quite an entertaining time travel story
- The Notion Club Papers: Part autobiography about Tolkiens time in the Inklins, part surreal scifi dream spacetravel, part philological language creation course and part mystery discovery of an ancient mythical land. Wrapped up in Tolkiens writing style. What's not to love?
- The Story of Finwë and Miriel
- The Tale of Andreth
- The major upheaval of the genealogy of the Three Houses of the Edain, and the massive amount of new background that comes with it.
- The wanderings of Hurin, especially in Brethil. Oh the awefulness of Tolkien never having having reworked the Nauglamir and further! The Silmarillion will never read the same for me, alas.
- A part on linguistics that is really more an analysis of the early days of the Eldar, as such things are intrinsically linked in Tolkiens worldbuilding.
- The New Shadow
- The Tale of Tar-elmar

So, if you are NOT interested in linguistics, do not skip those parts! You will regret it.

The only downside is that sometimes it feels a bit like going through yet ANOTHER version of the Silmarillion, which could become tedious. But fear not! If you've come this far: each section has a unique way of bringing it across that makes it interesting and worthy enough to read.

[Jacopo Piermattei · Rating 4 out of 5]

I 12 libri che compongono questa collana svelano passo dopo passo retroscena,curiosità, importanti informazioni di "lore" e si pongono come libri propedeutici che dopo il Silmarillion aiutano il lettore nella comprensione del mondo tolkeniano. Il lavoro fatto per ricostruire i primi schizzi di Arda, i collegamenti storici tra il nostro mondo e quello del professore, le lettere tra quest'ultimo e i commentatori dei suoi lavori ( personcine sconosciute come Lewis *sarcastic mode on*) è notevole, ma manca secondo me dell'organicità necessaria ad una sua facile comprensione. Troppo dispersivo,troppo esteso per essere esente da difetti e soprattutto inedito in italia, non riesce ad imporsi sul suo fratello più blasonato solo per queste mancanze.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing body of work. I'm convinced that you need to be a Tolkien completist and fully immersed in middle earth, the elves etc etc to a) get the most out of this and b) to have any chance of completing this series of books.

If you have read everything J.R.R. Tolkien has done and you want more ... these books might be for you. I enjoyed getting even deeper into the Tolkien world, but understand it may not be for most readers.

[The Toothless Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a collection meant to be read; it's meant to be absorbed. It's thick, it's brutal, it's epic in its extensive lack of overall clarity. It's required for any Tolkien nerd with enough money to pull it off. If you'd rather take the time to collect the individual tomes or the partial collections, by all means do that.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are nothing if you haven't read all volumes of the History of Middle Earth. Sure they're still great stories, but once you know the legends behind the names and places, you can't go back.