The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 1: Chronology

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide #1

by Wayne G. Hammond, Cristina Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien

Volume 1 of the most comprehensive in-depth companion to Tolkien’s life and works ever published, including synopses of all his writings, and a Tolkien gazetteer and who’s who.

The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide is a comprehensive handbook to one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century.

One of two volumes comprising this definitive work, the Chronology traces J.R.R. Tolkien's progress 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.

It is the most extensive biographical resource about Tolkien 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been drawn from letters, contemporary documents in libraries and archives, and a wide variety of other published and unpublished sources.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 revealing 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Biography

960 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2006

About the author

Wayne G. Hammond was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in the suburb of Brooklyn. In 1975 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, where he majored in English. In 1976 he received his Master of Arts in Library Science degree from the School of Library Science of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and from that year has been Assistant Librarian in the Chapin Library (rare books and manuscripts) at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He married Christina Scull in December 1994. His publications include The Graphic Art of C.B. Falls (1982), J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography (1993), and Arthur Ransome: A Bibliography (2000). He is also the co-author or co-editor with his wife of numerous works by and about J.R.R. Tolkien, and has designed a wide variety of books, exhibition catalogues, posters, and other printed materials. He has won a Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant from the Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College, and is a five-time winner of scholarship awards from the Mythopoeic Society.

Reviews

[Michael Joosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised how much I liked the Chronology--and I say this as a rather hardcore Tolkien would-be academic. It is quite dry, about as interesting as Appendix B "The Tale of the Years" in The Lord of the Rings, which makes sense since this is basically the same thing. That should have been my first warning--I love the Tale of the Years.

The Chronology was littered with little references and quotations I'd never seen before and did a lot to illuminate Tolkien the Professional, who has tended to lurk behind his authorial self. Partly because of its direct, non-commenting tone, it moves forward inexorably, and in the later stretches especially I had a real sense of Tolkien the Person, and in this respect it was quite moving. Obviously, it's not a book for everyone, but it's a beautiful read for the right people.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any Chronology, this volume is for fanatics. If you wish to know what lecture Tolkien gave on 17 July 1961, or what correspondence he engaged in on 8 Nov. 1959, this is the book for you! It works well with Carpenter's Biography to give an interesting snapshot of the life of the man. Very interesting.