Customer Reviews

TOLKIEN: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

JRR Tolkien is amongst the most important authors ever to have lived in history. Although he wasn't the direct father of the Fantasy type of novel (Some like Robert E. Howard preceeded him), his work is amongst the most amazing ever done in history. The Lord of the Rings is clearly one of the most important books, if not the most important book, of the 20th century. What Tolkien left was a whole world, a whole universe so complex and vast that it became the object of analysis and study of many people. Many works of analysis of Tolkien's Middle-Earth have been released. Some of them, like Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth, are quite good. Others, however, are so full of errors and subjective analysis that they become quite worthless to read. David Day's works are the prime example of that, this Encyclopedia being such an example. This so called 'referece work for Tolkien fans' is so filled with errors that one wonders if the author did his research work on Tolkien's works at all, or even if he read Tolkien. For the occasional fan of Tolkien, this book is quite worthless. The art is not exactly what one might call good, though some might disagree, but the important part, the reference work, is so badly done it's not worth buying this book. Get Robert Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-Earth instead and avoid this, or any of David Day's books, like the plague. For a serious Tolkien fan, these books are an insult to Tolkien's memory and works. To finish, I'll leave here perhaps one of the book's most obvious errors. page 249 softback. "Galadriel - Elven Queen of Lothlorien..." From 'The Letters of JRR Tolkien' - Letter 210 - Tolkien's commentary on an early LotR movie script, commentary between the brackets "'It is the home of Galadriel...An Elven Queen' (She is not in fact one)..."

While eye-filling and fairly comprehensive, David Day's work is not a reliable guide to the intricately detailed world of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth novels. Day is entirely subjective, interposing his own interpretations and additions onto Tolkien's text. Tolkien's fans, who tend to have their own strongly-held opinions about such things, will most likely be annoyed, offended, or outraged. Fan fiction has its place, but not when it is marketed as a faithful representation of the original.

This is one of the worst Tolkien books money can buy. The maps are ridiculous, the entries innacurate and sometimes even self contradictory, many important characters are not even mentioned, there are perhaps three sentances refering to Tolkien's languages (propably the greatest reason he even began to write his books on Middle-earth), and the so-called 'Illustrations' are awful. If you want a Tolkien reference book, whatever you do, DON'T BUY THIS ONE. It is a piece of garbage.

there are two eloquent reviews above so i need only add my concurence with a one star rating

even merry and pippin are mislabeled,obvious to any one who pays any attention at all-pityful,really,mr day.for shame!

IF YOU WANT REAL INFORMATION ABOUT TOLKIEN, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, OR ANY OF HIS OTHER BOOKS, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK, OR ANYTHING ELSE BY DAVID DAY!

I was given a copy of this book as a christmas present a number of years ago, and naively perused it, fascinated by the 'insights' into Tolkien's mythos and world. However, once I actually started to study Tolkien, I quickly realized just how completely bogus most of the stuff Day writes is.

One particular example that always strikes me is Day's entry on dragons, where he claims that there are three kinds of dragons: legless, legged, and winged. This is just plain wrong- there is no hint anywhere in any of Tolkien's writings that there were legless dragons. Day just seemed to like the idea, and went with it.

With "The fellowship of the Ring" motion picture coming up, I became interested again in Tolkiens wholly self-invented mythology. Strolling through my local bookshop one day, my eye was caught by a beautiful painting of Smaug attacking Lake Town. This painting turned out to be the cover of a beautifully illustrated and quite complete encyclopedia of Tolkiens World.

For me, the buying of this book turned out to be the starting point of a massive inquiry in Tolkiens world which I have far from ended today. And even after all that supplementary reading The Illustrated Encyclopaedia remains today one of my favorite books.

However. Getting nowadays more at home in Tolkiens mythology I am beginning to see the wholes in the text. I'm not saying that the "Encyclopaedia" errs, but I do believe that if the author had taken his research even further it would have turned out to be an even better, if not brilliant book. I give two examples.

First, the books chapters are about history, geography, sociology, natural history and biografies. Why not add a chapter about important objects, discussing for example the Rings of Power and/or the various magical swords wielded by the great heroes of Middle Earth? Such a chapter, I am sure, would prove very interesting. But by letting this stuff out, people are left with an alltogether beautiful, but essentially incomplete encyclopaedia.

Second, when one takes into consideration the subjects that did make the book, it is all to obvious that some of the information that should have been there was simply left out. Considering the history of Arda, for example, I was astonished to find no reference at all regarding the Dagor Dagorath, the final battle of the Gods, when Morgoth the Dark Enemy returns and Arda will be laid to waste...

My final word on the subject : I love this book, but what if...

I'm forever in debt of gratitude for David Day, since it was his Tolkien Bestiary that got me interested in Middle-Earth. I saw it in library back when I was about 10 years old, and the strange words and fascinating pictures made me ask the librarian what was it all about. She gave me a copy of The Lord Of The Rings, and after that I've just kept on strolling down the never-ending road.

And now it's been six years from the day I found out about Day's new coffee-table epic. Of course I added it to my Christmas presents straight on, I read it eyes glaring... and forgot it. Really, when I happened to see the name while swapping through Amazon's list of Tolkien books, it took me a while to realize that I own this one. Right now I'm at my job, but I think when I get home, I immediately grasp the Illustrated Encyclopedia just to see if it's worth something. As far as I can remember, Day tells here much the same story as in the Bestiary. Though in a different way. But at least it's prettier, and you can get some pride out even of the fact you own so handsome a book. As a Tolkien fanatic, I just can't stand any major failures in my collection. BTW, that doesn't concern the History of Middle-Earth volumes. I stopped buying them after the Books of the Lost Tales. Otherwise I would be penniless as the church rat by now. (A Finnish saying, if you didn't know...)

Merry Christmas to everyone out there. And Tolkien fans, mail me and say something nice...

This encyclopedia gives the reader a short synopsis of every kind of creature, geography, city, or event that was mentioned in the LOR, including characters from some of J.R.R Tolkien's other stories. This encyclopedia is invaluable when reading the LOR for the SECOND time. Beatifully illustrated and wonderfully cross-referenced. I would give this one six stars if I could.

Came fast and in great condition.
As far as the content the art is great but some of the definitions are wrong but that's OK since it's beautiful to look at.

I own Foster's reference and JEA Tyler's newest edition. Both books are comprehensive, and especially in Foster's case, generally accepted as accurate - Christopher Tolkien acknowledges both authors. I strongly recommend those 2 books.

This book is quite different, and its presentation is a refreshing change. Along with compelling images, the tome is sectioned by topic: first history, then geography to biographies and so on. Entries are then presented in alphabetical order for each topic. This means when you wish to look up Arnor, it isn't surrounded by dozens Ar* entries with all the many rulers that were named after the kingdom.

There are 2 reasons I see to purchase this book.

1. If you are looking for a less punctilious Tolkien companion, you won't regret getting this book - it is beautiful and would serve as a good coffee table book. Any inaccuracies you might come across are really niggling details. This is clearly evidenced by some of the other reviews here. I am a purist, but not a perfectionist, and even the tightly-knit mythology of Tolkien canon has its small contentions. I doubt you'll notice and I know none of your house guests will.

2. I maintain this is the perfect companion for a first read of the Silmarillion, which can be dense to get through. (I wish I had had it next to me) Although Foster's and Tyler's books have more detailed entries, it is an exercise in page flipping to make sense of the dozens of names and places coming at you. This book explains the relevant timelines and relationships in a simple, chronological way. The use of flowcharting and other diagramatical techniques give much of the details here a new slant.