that is fab, congrats Mr. Underhill.

That fanzine is a very cool find Uruoke.
And congratulations Mr.Underhill. Signed by 2 of the Greats.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Look what arrived in the post today, my copy of Tolkien’s Legendarium, but a couple of people have scribbled in it ?

I want to take a second to thank Aelfwine for taking the time out of his day(s) to not only sign my copy for me, but to hold on to it until he saw Dr. Flieger so that she could sign it, then mail it back to me. I am eternally grateful to have such generous friends.

Can you give me the quick rundown on this book here. Looks interesting. I've never heard of it until now.

Tolkien's Legendarium is a collection of invited scholarly essays published on the occasion of Christopher Tolkien's completion of the monumental "History of Middle-earth" series, with each essay considering some aspect of the series and/or avenue of research opened up by that series. It is in fact, though not in name, a Festschrift — which term was and still is frowned upon even by academic publishers as supposedly rendering a book unsellable — in honor of Christoper Tolkien. (All of us involved referred to it privately as "the un-Festschrift").

You can see the table of contents listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_Legendarium:_Essays_on_The_History_of_Middle-earth

I also set up a website for the book in conjunction with its publication 23(!) years ago, with a bit more detail on the contributions, here: https://www.elvish.org/legendarium/

Carl

Aelfwine wrote:

Tolkien's Legendarium is a collection of invited scholarly essays published on the occasion of Christopher Tolkien's completion of the monumental "History of Middle-earth" series, with each essay considering some aspect of the series and/or avenue of research opened up by that series. It is in fact, though not in name, a Festschrift — which term was and still is frowned upon even by academic publishers as supposedly rendering a book unsellable — in honor of Christoper Tolkien. (All of us involved referred to it privately as "the un-Festschrift").

You can see the table of contents listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_Legendarium:_Essays_on_The_History_of_Middle-earth

I also set up a website for the book in conjunction with its publication 23(!) years ago, with a bit more detail on the contributions, here: https://www.elvish.org/legendarium/

Carl

Thank you.
Is this book (the 1st print) hard to come by these days? I recently picked up Wayne Hammond's bibliography. Wouldn't mind having this in my collection too!

Dagoth wrote:

Is this book (the 1st print) hard to come by these days?

Yes it is.

Not easy to photograph

A few recent additions to my collection of contemporary reviews:

- A review of The Silmarillion by L.J. Davis in The New Republic - the review (which can be read online) is quite scathing, though in my view there are some valid/interesting points, which are somewhat lost in a morass of sarcasm.

- "Hwaet, We Holbytla..." by Douglass Parker in The Hudson Review (Vol. IX, No. 4) - I'd been hunting for this for some time, having learned that it was a perceptive, detailed (and early!) piece of criticism - I was fortunate enough to stumble across it in a job lot on Abebooks where the seller was happy to sell individual items.

- A review of LOTR by Mark Roberts in Essays in Criticism (Vol. VI, No. 4) - I've only scanned the (lengthy - 10 pages) article at this stage, but I find it interesting that the reviewer first goes into a detailed exposition of On Fairy-stories*, and latterly seeks to judge LOTR against the criteria set out therein!

(*all the more interesting since this review was published in 1956 and hence the reviewer was referring to its inclusion in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, which was perhaps not that well known by contemporary reviewers)

Predictable Matt wrote:

though in my view there are some valid/interesting points

Mind if I ask what they are?

Thanks in advance.

waywornalfred wrote:

Predictable Matt wrote:

though in my view there are some valid/interesting points

Mind if I ask what they are?

Thanks in advance.

Absolutely - I'll PM you (likely tomorrow) - otherwise I fear the Mods may (quite rightly!) rule it off-topic