"A GRAND AND ASTONISHING PROJECT WITH FEW PARALLELS IN THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE": COMPLETE 12-VOLUME SET OF CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN'S THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH, CHRONICLING HIS FATHER'S COMPOSITION OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND THE SILMARILLION

TOLKIEN, J.R.R.; TOLKIEN, Christopher, editor. The History of Middle-earth. London: George Allen & Unwin, et al., 1983-96. Twelve volumes. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jackets.

First editions of the 12 volumes of Christopher Tolkien's monumental History of Middle-earth, a meticulous chronicling of his father's writing of The Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, the Hobbit, and other works related to his supreme, overarching invention: the world, peoples, and mythos of Middle-earth. Each volume with facsimiles of Tolkien's original manuscripts, including his drawings, runic inscriptions, and wonderfully detailed maps, some reproduced in color.

When he was 25 years old, sometime in 1916-17, J.R.R. Tolkien set out "to begin the great work that he had been meditating for some time, a grand and astonishing project with few parallels in the history of literature. He was going to create an entire mythology… On the cover of a cheap notebook he wrote in thick blue pencil the title that he had chosen for his mythological cycle: 'The Book of Lost Tales.' Inside the notebook he began to compose what eventually became known as The Silmarillion" (Carpenter, J.R.R. Tolkien, 97-98). These stories and poems planted the seeds of Middle-earth and provided the first sketches of the myths, poems, languages and legends that eventually came to form The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings—both of which required substantial editing and compression to meet the demands of commercial publication. "The History of Middle-earth is an account of Tolkien's vast legendarium: the body of tales, language, geography, and other lore from which sprang The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, and into which The Hobbit 'intruded.' Selections from Tolkien's variant manuscripts are printed to show their complex evolution, together with commentary and notes by Christopher Tolkien. The series encompasses Tolkien's invented mythology from The Book of Lost Tales (begun 1916-17) through The Lord of the Rings, to the author's last, inconclusive work on The Silmarillion and associated writings before his death in 1973" (Hammond).

This fine set of preferred London first editions includes The Book of Lost Tales—Part I (1983), The Book of Lost Tales—Part II (1984), The Lays of Beleriand (1985), The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986), The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987), The Return of the Shadow (1988), The Treason of Isengard (1989), The War of the Ring (1990), Sauron Defeated (1992), Morgoth's Ring (1993), The War of the Jewels (1994), and The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996). Despite the immense popularity of The Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien's specialized work appealed primarily to hardcore fans, and print runs never exceeded the 7500 copies printed for The Book of Lost Tales—Part II. The Book of Lost Tales—Part I saw 5000 copies printed, Volumes III-V 6000, Volumes VI and VII 5000, Volume VIII 4000, and Volume IX 3000. (The bibliography was published before Volumes X-XII; presumably their print runs were in the 3000 range as well.) Dust jackets of first two volumes with no printed price, as issued. Hammond A21-A29.

Books about-fine to fine; a few dust jackets showing minor fading or slight wear, near-fine to fine. Increasingly difficult to find complete.