The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Vol. 2: Reader's Guide [Hardcover]

Christina Scull (Author), Wayne G. Hammond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2006

Designed to be the essential reference works for all readers and students, these volumes present the most thorough analysis possible of Tolkien's work within the important context of his life. The Reader's Guide includes brief but comprehensive alphabetical entries on a wide range of topics, including a who's who of important persons, a guide to places and institutions, details concerning Tolkien's source material, information about the political and social upheavals through which the author lived, the importance of his social circle, his service as an infantryman in World War I -- even information on the critical reaction to his work and the "Tolkien cult." The Chronology details the parallel evolutions of Tolkien's works and his academic and personal life in minute detail. Spanning the entirety of his long life including nearly sixty years of active labor on his Middle-earth creations, and drawing on such contemporary sources as school records, war service files, biographies, correspondence, the letters of his close friend C. S. Lewis, and the diaries of W. H. Lewis, this book will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to gain a complete understanding of Tolkien's status as a giant of twentieth-century literature.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wayne G. Hammond is a librarian at the Chapin Library of Rare Books at Williams College, Massachusetts. He is the author of 'The Graphic Art of C.B. Falls' (1892), 'J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography' (1993), and regular notes on Tolkien in the journal 'Mythlore'. Christina Scull is the former librarian of Sir John Soane's Museum, London. She is the author of 'The Soane Hogarths' (1991), edits the journal 'The Tolkien Collector', and frequently writes and speaks about Tolkien. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1280 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (November 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618391010
• ISBN-13: 978-0618391011
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing work, January 3, 2007

By 

Ran Bar Zik (Petah Tiqwa, Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Vol. 2: Reader's Guide (Hardcover)

The Reader's Guide is one of the most impressive books about Tolkien and Tolkien's creation ever made. Actually, it is a vast encyclopedia, but instead of Frodo, Feanor or the Valar you can find in this book all of Tolkien and more important: Tolkien's sources. in this hefty volume (more than 1100 pages!) you can find extensive entries about interesting people in Tolkien's life like George Mcdonald, C.S Lewis and Barfield and interesting entries about themes and ideas in Tolkien creation like woman, light, time and more. Also you can find entries on the various sources that influenced Tolkien.
The main attraction is that you can find there entry about each chapter from the Silmarillion (the one that was published in 1977) with summary and complete analysis and references to the texts that Christopher used in order to build the chapters.

Scull and Hammond surely invested tremendous work in this volumes, the Bibliographical list is very impressive. Every entry is very detailed and although (As H&S wrote themselves in the foreword) you can't find there the whole information about some subjects, you can find in each entry enough to make you understand the basics. This book will not replace Shippey or even Carpenter, the Reader's Guide is something on a very different level: more like encyclopedia and less interpretation book.

This book is useful to everyone that wants to know more about Tolkien and Tolkien's creation. I think that this is tremendous achievement and great contribution to Tolkien study. If you read part or all of H.O.M.E and If you are making you own research - You should use this book, it will upgrade your research in a ways that you never dream that was possible.