First edition hardback copy of this scarce book. The foreword is written by JRR Tolkien, a friend of the author, Walter Haigh. Tolkien would later use many of the words in this book in the words and character names of his Lord of the Rings trilogy. For example, 'bggin' - 'a meal, now usually tea..' ' probably so called because workers generally carried their meals to their work in a bag of some kind '. Many of the words in the book, like bggon, have Scandinavian derivations. The book is in good condition but with some splitting to the top of the spine and a couple of faint ring stains to the front cover. It is a key work in understanding the process by which Tolkien came to write his trilogy.