The Tolkien Reader [Paperback]

Stories, poems, and commentaries by the author ofThe Hobbitand The Lord of the Rings
 
FARMER GILES OF HAM
An imaginative history of the distant and marvelous past that introduces the rather unheroic Farmer Giles, whose efforts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon will delight readers everywhere.
 
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL
A collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, that staunch friend of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.
 
TREE AND LEAF
Contains “On Fairy-stories,” Professor Tolkien’s now-famous essay on the form of the fairy story and the treatment of fantasy.
 
. . . and other dazzling works, including an introduction by Peter S. Beagle

John Ronald Reuel Tolkienwas born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. After serving in World War I, he embarked upon a distinguished academic career and was recognized as one of the finest philologists in the world. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. He is, however, beloved throughout the world as the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic works asThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Rings. He died on September 2, 1973, at the age of eighty-one.Tolkein’s Magic Ring


Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Far to the north there are the Iron Hills, the Gray Mountains and the Ice Bay of Forochel; beyond that lies only the great Northern Waste. Farthest to the south is the Haradwaith, land of a dark and fierce peoplelóW