J. R. R Tolkien

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole...

A one-volume edition of the trilogy which tells of the quest undertaken by the hobbit Frodo and his companions to journey across Middle-earth and cast the evil One Ring, into the Cracks of Doom. Includes fifty specially commissioned paintings by Alan Lee. "In this one volume the three parts of The Lord of the rings, The Fellowship of the ring, The two towers, and The Return of the Ring [King], are enhanced by the work of a dedicated artist whose...

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was part of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of Middle Earth. Essential to the story is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal elf. Her father, a great elvish lord in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This leads to the heroic attempt of Beren and...

"In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes, and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred...

The first of a two-book set that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion. The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Silmarillion. Embedded in English legend and English association, they are set in the narrative frame of a great westward...

"Describes the evolution of 'The Fellowship of the Ring.'"

"Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply? For more than twenty years, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien received letters from the North Pole-- from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas's...

A fantasy adventure saga set in the early days of Middle-Earth features humans and elves, dwarves and dragons, orcs and dark sorcerers clashing in an epic battle between good and evil.