The Silmarillion

J.R.R.Tolkien

Illustrated by Francis Mosley

Introduced by Christopher Tolkien

Before The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit came The Silmarillion – a rich tapestry of tales and legends which tells the story of Middle-earth.

J. R. R. Tolkien began creating the mythology, traditions and language of Middle-earth long before The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit ever found their way onto the printed page. Known as The Silmarillion, a book Tolkien would add to throughout his life, this rich tapestry of tales told of the creation of the world in the First Age, the coming of Elves and Men, the theft of the Silmarils – the jewels containing the pure light that illuminated Middle-earth – and the wars between the first Dark Lord and the High Elves.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Bound in blocked paper

Set in Fournier with Omnia display

424 pages

Frontispiece and 34 black & white illustrations, and a 2-colour fold-out map

Plain slipcase

9˝ x 5¾˝

A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ADVENTURES OF FRODO AND BILBO

The events of The Silmarillion have a power and a symbolism all of their own, while also affording readers a deeper understanding of the later adventures of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. At the time of Tolkien’s death, in 1973, The Silmarillion remained unpublished. Tolkien’s son Christopher took on the momentous task of preparing a text from the masses of material to hand, with the first edition appearing in 1977.

The world of The Silmarillion is the world created out of the music of the angelic Ainur, before The Lord of the Rings, before even The Hobbit. The Silmarillion tells of the coming of the elves and men, and of Melkor, the greatest of the Ainur, who fell from grace and in doing so planted the seeds of evil. These are the stories by which the inhabitants of Middle-earth live, offering the reader a deeper insight into Tolkien’s magical world.

This edition is published with the original foreword by Christopher Tolkien. It features a frontispiece and 28 superb chapter illustrations by the artist Francis Mosley. The binding is blocked in blue and pale gold, based on a design by the artist. A very special feature of this edition is the fold-out map by Christopher Tolkien. Measuring 23 × 15 inches and printed in black and red, it shows Beleriand and the Lands to the North – the mysterious lands that precede Middle-earth.

ABOUT J. R. R. TOLKIEN

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 and moved to England with his family while still a child. Both his parents died when Tolkien was young and he and his brother lived with a relative and later on, in boarding houses. Tolkien studied at Exeter College, and went on to teach at Oxford. It was during this time that he published The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He continued to work as a professor until 1959 and he died in 1973, aged 81.