An illustrated journey into the life and imagination of one of the world's best-loved authors, Tolkien's Worlds provides a unique exploration of the relationship between the real and the fantastical and is an essential companion for anyone who wants to follow in Tolkien's footsteps.

Combines both previously published and unpublished essays, to bring [Hooker's] latest essays together in one convenient volume. Many of the previously published essays have been revised and expanded.--cf. p. x.

Throughout this vast and intricate mythology, says Publishers Weekly, "one marvels anew at the depth, breadth, and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien's labor. No one sympathetic to his aims, the invention of a secondary universe, will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation." In this capstone to that creation, we find the chronology of Middle-earth's later Ages, the Hobbit genealogies, and the Western language or Common Speech. These early essays show that Tolkien's fertile imagination was at work on Middle-earth's Second and Third Ages long before he explored them in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings . Here too are valuable writings from Tolkien's last years: " The New Shadow," in Gondor of the Fourth Age, and" Tal-elmar," the tale of the coming of the Nsmen-rean ships.

For the first time ever, a very special edition of the J.R.R. Tolkien's classic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, illustrated throughout in color by the author himself and with the complete text printed in two colors, plus sprayed edges and a ribbon bookmark. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivaled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. More than 150 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors’ editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. This one-volume, jacketed hardcover edition contains the complete text, fully corrected and reset, which is printed in red and black and features, for the very first time, thirty color illustrations, maps and sketches drawn by Tolkien himself as he composed this epic work. These include the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, marvelous facsimiles created by Tolkien to accompany the famous ‘Bridge of Khazad-dum’ chapter. Also appearing are two removable fold-out maps drawn by Christopher Tolkien revealing all the detail of Middle-earth. Sympathetically packaged to reflect the classic look of the first edition, this new edition of the bestselling hardback will prove irresistible to collectors and new fans alike.

Immerse yourself in Middle-earth with J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic masterpieces behind the films... This special 50th anniversary edition includes three volumes of The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King), along with an extensive new index—a must-own tome for old and new Tolkien readers alike. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion. When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but while he studied classic works of the past, he was creating a set of his own.

It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954-5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. He discusses sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Númenor and the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor.

Many decades ago in England, a highly respected professor at Oxford was correcting exam papers and, having a few minutes to spare, idly scribbled on a blank page in an exam book, In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. He didn't even know what a hobbit was, or why he wrote those words. But they were, nevertheless, the beginning of one of the most famous fantasy adventure tales ever written. The professor was J.R.R. Tolkien, and the book, of course, was The Hobbit. With the publication of The Hobbit and, later, The Lord of the Rings, readers were introduced to Tolkien's unique creation, Middle-earth. No other writer has conceived a world as distinct as Middle-earth, complete with its own geography, history, languages, and legends. And certainly no one has created characters as endearing as Tolkien's large-hearted, hairy-footed hobbits. The hobbits and their fellow inhabitants of Middle-earth -- wizards, men, elves, ents, dwarves, orcs, trolls, wargs, the Nazgul, and others -- continue to seize the imaginations of readers of every age. In celebration of the publication of The Children of Hurin, the first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien in 30 years, Houghton Mifflin has put together an essential collection of Tolkien books. This set makes a great gift that every Tolkien fan should own. This collection includes everything from the first books that made Tolkien famous to the entire History of the Middle-earth to works indispensable in navigating Tolkien's great vision and creation.