HarperCollins To Re-Issue Matching Boxed Sets Of "The History Of Middle-Earth" By J. R. R. Tolkien And Christopher Tolkien

A couple of months ago I ordered the entire lot of "The History of Middle-earth" (including the index) from the official HarperCollins UK website. They were so pricey but I was quite happy and excited to have the UK editions (I have copies of the US editions). Unfortunately after a weeks they were cancelled and I was refunded, but with a juicy piece of information included in the email. The publisher will not be able supply the order with the then edition as they are "reprinting" the books. It turns out the reprinting is a total redesign and a totally new revision!

In a news that got me all excited, HarperCollins will be publishing the entire collection in 4 boxed sets. The books will have reversible jackets, featuring matching John Howe art on one side and the original design on the other. They will be released in a span of months starting with the first boxed set, which includes The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, Parts One & Part Two.

Check out the first boxed set of The History of Middle-Earth by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien, which includes The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, Parts One & Part Two.

Synopsis

First in a series of hardback boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 1 contains special editions of THE SILMARILLION and UNFINISHED TALES reproducing the first edition text, together with the two volumes of THE BOOK OF LOST TALES.

The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s World. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth and the rise of Númenor in the Second Age to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the twentieth century’s most acclaimed popular author.

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 voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol to the lonely Isle where the Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse.

In the two volumes of the Tales are found the earliest accounts of Gods and Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; of the geography and cosmology of Tolkien’s invented world.

Published together for the first time, these four books collect the beginning of Christopher Tolkien’s forty-year career devoted to presenting his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on Middle-earth, a unique accomplishment that celebrates the greatest invented world in all of fantasy literature.

The History of Middle-earth (Boxed Set 1): The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, Parts One & Part Two by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien will be released on November 23, 2023.