Designed to be the essential reference works for all readers and students, these volumes present the most thorough analysis possible of Tolkien's work within the important context of his life. The Reader's Guide includes brief but comprehensive alphabetical entries on a wide range of topics, including a who's who of important persons, a guide to places and institutions, details concerning Tolkien's source material, information about the political and social upheavals through which the author lived, the importance of his social circle, his service as an infantryman in World War I -- even information on the critical reaction to his work and the "Tolkien cult." The Chronology details the parallel evolutions of Tolkien's works and his academic and personal life in minute detail. Spanning the entirety of his long life including nearly sixty years of active labor on his Middle-earth creations, and drawing on such contemporary sources as school records, war service files, biographies, correspondence, the letters of his close friend C. S. Lewis, and the diaries of W. H. Lewis, this book will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to gain a complete understanding of Tolkien's status as a giant of twentieth-century literature.

Since its first publication fifty years ago, The Lord of the Rings has generated an almost unparalleled interest from both fans and critics alike. Every detail of its 500,000+ words has been examined and discussed, making it the most widely studied - and enjoyed - work of fiction of the 20th century.In The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull unravel the story of how an epic battle has been fought for decades, first by Professor Tolkien, then by his son, Christopher, to maintain the integrity of this huge story. They examine the work chapter by chapter, providing details of:,*Notes on significant author changes, when they entered, and any background history,*Notes on changes made by Christopher Tolkien, and differences between the earliest manuscripts and the printed text,*References to people, places and events that appear in other Tolkien books,*Explanations of unusual words,*Appearing for the first time, Tolkien's own "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings", with fascinating notes by him about many of the names he inventedThe Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion will provide a unique insight into the creative process of a true genius, and will offer a detailed and informative account of how the Book of the Century has evolved from one generation to the next.

This supplemental volume expands upon the seven-volume edition of Constitutional Documents of the United States of America 1776-1860, which was published from 2006 to 2009. It contains 14 constitutional documents from 8 different U.S. states which were recently made accessible for the first time in American libraries and archives. Among the documents in the collection are the constitution of the short-lived "Republic of Indian Stream," which succeeded from New Hampshire from 1832 to 1835, as well as rare constitutional documents from New Mexico and Texas written in both Spanish and English. The texts have been edited, annotated, and indexed on the basis of the original manuscripts and (in certain cases rare) original prints produced by the official state or constitutional convention printing presses.