The Tolkien scholarly community is afire with curiosity and rumours after it emerged that a new Tolkien book is on the horizon. The book, which we understand will be called The Fall of Arthur appears to be set for a May 2013 release going from pre-order information that inadvertently popped up on the website of retailing giant Amazon. It’s possible that it has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, but this is unconfirmed.
The Fall of Arthur is a long, alliterative poem based on Arthurian legends. Some excerpts from it were published in Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of JRR Tolkien. It seems it was written in the 1930s. In Letters of JRR Tolkien there is a bare mention of The Fall of Arthur.
I write alliterative verse with pleasure, though I have published little beyond fragments in The Lord of the Rings, except ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth’… a dramatic dialogue on the nature of the ‘heroic’ and the ‘chivalrous’. I still hope to finish a long poem on The Fall of Arthur in the same measure. Letter 165, Letters of JRR Tolkien.
Christopher Tolkien is the youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien, and his literary executor. He recently gave a rare interview to French newspaper Le Monde. In it, he talks about his father’s works, reputation, and the slow evolution of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
The posterity of J.R.R. Tolkien is both the story of an extraordinary literary transmission from a father to a son, and the story of a misunderstanding. The most well-known works, the ones that have hidden the rest, were only an epiphenomenon in the eyes of their author…
Today is Mother’s Day in the US – and here at TheOneRing.net we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the importance mothers and motherhood play in our everyday lives. We honor those maternal bonds that are everlasting – bonds that time and distance can never truly break. To this end, we thought it might be a bit geeky to list out the names of the highlighted Mother’s from the Silmarillion, Index of Names. If you have not read the Silmarillion, or are not familiar with Middle-earth history, there will be some spoilers ahead!
Elwing – Daughter of Dior, who escaping from Doriath with the Silmaril wedded Earendil at the Mouths of Sirion and went with him to Vali-nor; mother of Elrond and Elros. The name means ‘Star-spray’ ; see Lanthir Lamath. [Elwing by Moon-blossom]
Emeldir – Called the Man-hearted; wife of Barahir and mother of Beren; led the women and children of the House of Beor from Dorthonion after the Dagor Bragollach. (She was herself also a descendant of Beor the Old, and her father’s name was Beren; this is not stated in the text.)
As we excitedly reported last week, HarperCollins Publishers have released an Enhanced eBook version of ‘The Hobbit.’ Today, for your viewing pleasure, we have the full press release about this new digital release. You can read it below. As before, if you’d like to download your own copy it is available from their Facebook Tolkien eBook Store, Apple’s iBookstore, Kindle and Nook. Enjoy!
HarperCollins Publishers Releases Enhanced eBook of The Hobbit
David Brawn, Publisher of Estates at HarperCollins, said: “It is customary for publishers to release new editions of books to commemorate milestone anniversaries, and as we entered The Hobbit’s 75th year, we felt we should acknowledge its success not only in print but also in the eBook world. Many thousands of readers have embraced The Hobbit in the two years since it was first released as an eBook, and with the growing availability of color-enabled devices, we felt it was time to offer an alternative edition, complete with Tolkien’s color pictures from our popular Deluxe edition. Together with J.R.R. Tolkien’s now famous half-hour recording of Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum, the recent discovery of three further unreleased extracts – one long and two short – meant we have been able to enhance the eBook even further. At a time when there is so much speculation about how others are visualizing The Hobbit, it is rather special to be able to read the novel with Tolkien’s own pictures and with parts of it read in his own voice, for a truly authentic experience.” Continue reading “Official Release: HarperCollins Publishers Releases Enhanced eBook of The Hobbit”
Today is an exciting day for fans of The Hobbit worldwide as Harper Voyager Books releases ‘The Hobbit‘ as downloadable Enhanced Ebook! As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve themed the site to celebrate! Exclusive to this Enhanced version of the eBook are new high-resolution colour images of all of Tolkien’s illustrations for the book, many of which are also included in their earlier black-and-white versions, which can be revealed by a simple swipe of the screen. A Foreword by Christopher Tolkien examines the writing of the book, complete with illustrations including manuscript pages and unused drawings. Finally, the Enhanced eBook includes some recently discovered audio recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien reading excerpts from The Hobbit, including the dwarves’ party song, the account of their capture by the three trolls, and Bilbo Baggins’s terrifying encounter with the hideous Gollum. You can download it now from a multitude of locations, all summarized neatly on the official Facebook page. [Facebook Tolkien Ebook Store] [iBookstore (iPad/iPhone)] [Kindle]
Tolkien fans are a creative bunch, to say the least, and Benjamin Harff is a testament to that.
An art student from Germany, Benjamin was introduced to Middle-earth back in 1991 when he was but 11 years old. Out camping with friends in the woods, he recalls sharing readings from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by the fireside, an experience that would leave a strong impression on him even into adulthood.
For his final examination in Illustration and Graphic Design in 2009, he spent a year and a half creating a handmade version of The Silmarillion. The result was an exquisite sub-creation of one of Tolkien’s greatest posthumously-published works replete with calligraphic text, illustrations, and illuminations, all meticulously hand-bound in goat leather.
On the right can be seen the illumination of the opening page of the book, a page that Benjamin says took more than 70 hours to create. The Tolkien Library, a fansite dedicated to the works of Tolkien, has an in-depth interview with Benjamin concerning his work, where more pictures of the book can be found.
The Tolkien scholarly community is afire with curiosity and rumours after it emerged that a new Tolkien book is on the horizon. The book, which we understand will be called The Fall of Arthur appears to be set for a May 2013 release going from pre-order information that inadvertently popped up on the website of retailing giant Amazon. It’s possible that it has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, but this is unconfirmed.
As we excitedly reported last week, HarperCollins Publishers have released an 