The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide

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The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide.jpg
AuthorChristina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond
PublisherHarperCollins (UK)
Houghton Mifflin (US)
Released6 October 2006
FormatHardcover
Pages2300
ISBN0618391134

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide is a reference guide to the life of J.R.R. Tolkien. Compiled by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, it is composed of two tomes:

  • The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Reader's Guide
  • The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology

A second edition was announced in 2016, corrected and enlarged, which was published in 2017 in three volumes.[1]

From the publisher

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.

Unique Tolkien writings

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide includes many quotes from formerly unpublished or hard-to-find writings of Tolkien.

  • Chronology (2006), p. 625: quotes from two writings concerning an abandoned preface to 'The Golden Key'. (?Late November 1964-?mid-February 1965)

External links

References

  1. Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, "Tolkien Companion and Guide 2nd Ed." dated 4 October 2016, Too Many Books and Never Enough (accessed 1 October 2020)