Tolkien: The illustrated encyclopedia [Hardcover]

David Day (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1991

This encyclopaedia offers guidance to Tolkien's world of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands. It draws together every important aspect of his vast cosmology in over 500 alphabetic entries covering five subject areas - history, geography, sociology, natural history anad biography. By drawing on Tolkien's works, the entries are intended to offer readers a detailed background to the characters and creatures of his extraordinary imagination.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Los Angeles Times A real beauty.

Detroit Free Press A comprehensive guide to every important aspect of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands...a stunning tour de force. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 279 pages
• Publisher: Maxwell Macmillan International (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002533431X
• ISBN-13: 978-0025334311
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Error-ridden piece of so called Tolkien 'reference work', January 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tolkien : The Illustrated Encyclopaedia (Paperback)

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)..."

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unreliable eye candy, March 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tolkien : The Illustrated Encyclopaedia (Paperback)

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.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is horrible., August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tolkien : The Illustrated Encyclopaedia (Paperback)

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.