The Adventures of Tom Bombadil [Hardcover]

J. R. R. Tolkien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1990

A volume of songs, rhymes and poems from "The Red Book". They tell of Tom's encounters with Goldberry, with Old Man Willow, who tries to trap Tom inside his trunk, with the Badger-folk, and with the ghostly Barrow-wight, as well as with a princess, trolls, dwarves and legendary beasts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Unwin Hyman (December 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0044407270
• ISBN-13: 978-0044407270
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,109,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892.1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but even as he studied these classics he was creating a set of his own.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine verse, June 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (Hardcover)

It is crazy that this book should be out of print. What are publishers thinking of? The verses are a delight, though they become increasingly tragic as the book progresses - "The Sea Bell" is a devastating account of something like clinical depression, yet like many of the rest it has a strange beauty. On the surface much is easy-to-read verse, but often has subtle allusions to deep matters. Many links with "The Lord of the Rings" for those who know where to look, and, I think, an unusually personal account of Tolkien's own struggles to find beauty, wonder and enchantment in the bleak modern world - it is only coincidence that "The Sea Bell" is the only one of his major works for publication written in the first person?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Tolkien Shorts - Recommended, October 31, 2009

By 

C. F. Hill "CFH" (Blue Ridge Summit, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (Paperback)

While "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is a very short book at only 75 pages, the 16 included verses (some only one page long) make this very much worth seeking out. These are mostly fun little stories, some mainly about Tom Bombadil, but others about other events, characters, and creatures in Tolkien's world. A few of them are somewhat silly and others are surprisingly deep. I especially enjoyed "The Hoard" which, predictably, tells the tale of the origin and ultimate fate of a Dragon's hoard.

If you enjoy J. R. R. Tolkien's poems, you will likely enjoy this book as well.

Highly Recommended!