At Oxford in the nineteen-forties, Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was generally considered the most boring lecturer around, teaching the most boring subject known to man, Anglo-Saxon philology and literature, in the most boring way imaginable. “Incoherent and often inaudible” was Kingsley Amis’s verdict on his teacher. Tolkien, he reported, would write long lists of words on the blackboard, obscuring them with his body as he droned on, then would absent-mindedly erase them without turning around. “I can just about stand learning the filthy lingo it’s written in,” Philip Larkin, another Tolkien student, complained about the old man’s lectures on “Beowulf.” “What gets me down is being expected to admire the bloody stuff.” More..
Category: Tolkien
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”
You may have noticed we’ve added a small widget to the right side of our page titled ‘Instant Updates.’ Enter your email into this widget and anytime we post a news story you will be automatically emailed within minutes! So next time their is ‘The Hobbit’ movie news or a big-time Tolkien event is happening near you, you can be instantly alerted. Pretty neat right? Your email will never be used for anything besides these instant updates from TheOneRing.net. We will never look at the list, let alone give it a third-party. So enter your email on the right side of this page and start getting your instant Tolkien fix today! Of course if you don’t want to get every news post in email, you can sign-up for our official TheOneRing.net newsletter as well! Or heck, do both! You can never get enough Tolkien news! [Official Newsletter]
Join us LIVE at 5pm PT tonight as we welcome Ian McKellen’s webmaster and collaborator Keith Stern!
Keith Stern has produced some of the most popular biographical websites on the Internet. Since 1997 he has been collaborating with Ian McKellen on that actor’s autobiographical website, McKellen.com. He also has also produced websites for Lynn Redgrave (Redgrave.com), Sean Astin (SeanAstin.com), Andy Serkis (Serkis.com), Spinal Tap (SpinalTap.com), Gods and Monsters (GodsAndMonsters.net) and others for movie stars and movies.
Host Clifford Broadway, aka Quickbeam, will be discussing the HOBBIT production and possibly a few secrets from the set! We launch our program at about 5pm Pacific time — There’s a built-in Barliman’s chat room or come in via Skype. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE Event section right here every week: 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time! [LIVE Event Area] (See All Times)
It’s time for our weekly *live* streaming show TORn TUESDAYS with QUICKBEAM! There are tons of news items and spy reports coming in as HOBBIT production moves full steam-ahead! Today join long-time contributor Cliff Broadway hosting as we announce special plans for the Tolkien community to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of FOTR, discover the new Enhanced HOBBIT e-book, new Arkenstone jewelry from Badali (and a special offer), new Smaug/Cumberbatch news, and much more! We launch our program at about 5pm Pacific time — There’s a built-in Barliman’s chat room or come in via Skype. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE Event section right here every week: 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time!
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]