An Encyclopedia of Tolkien: The History and Mythology That Inspired Tolkien's World by David Day ISBN: 1645170101
Published by Canterbury Classics on October 8, 2019
Pages: 544
Goodreads
A comprehensive, illustrated guide to the history, lands, and inhabitants of Middle-earth.
The fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth contains a rich assortment of people, cities, and creatures—as well as a deep, intertwined history that spans thousands of years. In this beautifully illustrated volume, best-selling author and Tolkien scholar David Day presents four decades of research and writing on the lands and inhabitants Middle-earth. Sections of this A-to-Z dictionary are devoted to discussion of the battles, history, beasts, and heroes of Tolkien’s stories. This comprehensive volume on Tolkien’s world also includes an appendix of three primary legends that served as sources for Tolkien’s creations—the Volsunga saga, the Nibelungenlied, and Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle—and more than 200 black-and-white illustrations
Review
This is a gorgeous book that is something that I will treasure always. I was so excited to open this and page through quickly at first and then savor each page of character descriptions, family trees, the lists of related characters and their characteristics. The illustrations are beautiful and every day I pick it up. This is a book that you will reference every time you pick up a Tolkien book.
There is so much information and so many dots connected for me in ways that I didn’t figure out myself even though I have read them more times than I can remember. While this review is short and can’t do justice to the book, it would make a welcome gift to any Tolkien lover. I have made all my nerdy friends jealous by just having this book on my shelf.
About the Author
David Day is a Canadian author of over forty books: poetry, natural history, ecology, mythology, fantasy, and children’s literature. Internationally he is most notably known for his literary criticism on J. R. R. Tolkien and his works.
After finishing high school in Victoria, British Columbia, Day worked as a logger for five years on Vancouver Island before graduating from the University of Victoria. Subsequently he has travelled widely, most frequently to Greece and Britain.
Day has published six books of poems for adults and ten illustrated children’s books of fiction and poetry. His non-fiction books on natural history include The Doomsday Book of Animals, The Whale War, Eco Wars: a Layman Guide to the Environmental Movement, Noah’s Choice and most recently Nevermore: A Book of Hours – Meditations on Extinction (2012).
His Doomsday Book was a Time Magazine Book of the Year and became the basis for the 100 part animated-short TV series “Lost Animals of the 20th Century”.
David Days best-selling books on the life and works of JRR Tolkien include: A Tolkien Bestiary, Tolkien: the Illustrated Encyclopedia, Tolkien’s Ring, The World of Tolkien and The Hobbit Companion.
Day’s Tolkien’s Ring was illustrated by academy award-winning artist Alan Lee, as was Castles, The Animals Within, Gothic and Quest For King Arthur.
http://www.daviddaybooks.com
