The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
From Tolkien Gateway
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion | |
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File:The Lord of the Rings - A Reader's Companion.jpg | |
Author | Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull |
Publisher | HarperCollins (UK) & Houghton Mifflin (US) |
Released | December 2005 |
Format | Hardcover with dustjacket, Paperback |
Pages | 894 |
ISBN | 0618642676 |
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull is considered one of the greatest recent secondary works about J.R.R. Tolkien's world. The book contains rare Tolkien-related extracts, poems, letters, manuscripts, interviews, as well as brand new material.
Contents
- Rare or previously unpublished content
- A newly transcribed version of Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings. Another version of this was published as "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" in A Tolkien Compass (1975).
- The missing part of Tolkien's 1951 letter to Milton Waldman, regarding the events of The Lord of the Rings, previously unpublished in the UK. The other parts have been published as Letter 131.
- A reproduction of a manuscript page showing a synoptic time scheme used while writing The Lord of the Rings. It summarizes the movements of characters between the 8th and the 12th of March.
- The Scheme used by Tolkien to summarise the events of March 3018, including new contents.
- Several early versions, drafts and schemes of The Lord of the Rings, most of them unpublished in The History of the Lord of the Rings.
- Formerly unpublished parts of "The Hunt for the Ring", in particular The Hunt for the Ring: Time Scheme - Black Riders and other missing manuscripts or drafts.
- "Index questions", a formerly unpublished index of characters and places in The Lord of the Rings.
- Notes on significant changes made by the author and by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death
- Notes on significant changes on dates and events during the writing of The Lord of the Rings, or in different editions
- Brief references to illustrations, maps, and earlier versions of the text
- References to people, places, and events that appear in other books by Tolkien
- Explanations of archaic and unusual words
- Translations and primers on how to use Tolkien's invented languages