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Books of Lord of the Rings
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XeroX
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Books of Lord of the Rings
   

Does anybody know howmany books about Lord of the rings have been written?
I know it are a lott more then only the 3 real parts, there are also missing stories and history books.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 1:30 pm
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EverythingXen
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The History One (Simal-something)
The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Rings
The Two Towers
Return of the King

Unfinished Tales

Recently released is a book of short stories set in Middle Earth by some of today's 'Best' fantasy authors. I'm interested in picking it up if I can find it again. I think it's called Dreams of MIddle Earth or something.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 4:03 pm
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Neo_Genesis
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well, first there were (fromt eh three 'real' parts) 6 parts, not 3.

that's why you see every book is split up in 2 books.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:05 pm
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Secret Agent Lawanda
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quote:
Originally posted by EverythingXen
The History One (Simal-something)

The Silmarillion
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:09 pm
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Ekim
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quote:
Originally posted by Neo_Genesis
well, first there were (fromt eh three 'real' parts) 6 parts, not 3.

that's why you see every book is split up in 2 books.

Hmm... I don't want to contradict you as this is the first time I have heard that and I'm unsure if I missed something (and maybe I did). But originally Tolkien had designed the whole Lord of the Rings (which tells the story of the War of the Ring) to be only one book, not 3 or 6 in fact. But because of World War II there was a shortage of paper and so Tolkien was forced by his publisher to make the thing into 3 parts that could be published seperately so that they could use less paper at a time. And that is why most of the "big" fans of Tolkien will never refer to LotR as a trilogy, because it was not originally intended to be one.

If Tolkien's idea was originally to write 6 books, I've never heard about it myself. But I guess it could be possible.

Back on topic (sort of), I'm not sure if you could count it as a book in itself, but the Appendixes were not included with the first editions of the book, and was completed later. I'm not sure if it was published on its own at some point, or if it was always included with the RotK as soon as it was available though.
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:41 pm
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Hexy
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Then we have the books with songs/poems and tales about Middle Earth:

Tales from Middle Earth
The World of the Ring
The Book of lost Tales 1 and 2
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 7:56 pm
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Danicek
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And then we have a lot books about books about Middle Earth and about their author :].
Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:12 pm
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XeroX
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I know there are
12 parts of History of Middle Earth
The lost Road and other Writings

The Lays of Beleriand
The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion, Part Two, the Legends of Beleriand)
In Volumes Ten and Eleven of The History of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien recounts from the original texts the evolution of his father's work on The Silmarillion, the legendary history of the Elder Days or First Age, from the completion of The Lord of the Rings in 1949 until J.R.R. Tolkien's death. In volume ten, Morgoth's Ring, the narrative was taken only as far as the natural dividing point in the work, when Morgoth destroyed the Trees of Light and fled from Valinor bearing the stolen Silmarils. In The War of the Jewels, the story returns to Middle-earth and the ruinous conflict of the High Elves and the Men who were their allies with the power of the Dark Lord. With the publication in this book of all J.R.R. Tolkien's later narrative writing concerned with the last centuries of the First Age, the long history of The Silmarillion, from its beginnings in The Book of Lost Tales, is completed; the enigmatic state of the work at his death can now be understood. A chief element in The War of the Jewels is a major story of Middle-earth, now published for the first time - a continuation of the great "saga" of Turin Turambar and his sister Nienor, the children of Hurin the Steadfast. This is the tale of the disaster that overtook the forest people of Brethil when Hurin came among them after his release from long years of captivity in Angband, the fortress of Morgoth. The uncompleted text of the Grey Annals, the primary record of the War of the Jewels, is given in full; the geography of Beleriand is studied in detail, with redrawings of the final state of the map; and a long essay on the names and relations of all the peoples of Middle-earth shows more clearly than any writing yetpublished the close connection between language and history in Tolkien's world. The text also provides new information, including some knowledge of the divine powers, the Valar.

The Silmarillion

How good are these books?
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Post Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:35 pm
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vaticide
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I've read The Tolkein Reader and The Silmarillion in addition to The Hobbit and the core books.

The Tolkein Reader contains a couple stories involving Tom Bombadil. Other than that it is essays of his about various subjects such as Beowulf and the Fantasy genre being a worthwhile genre rather than the 2nd rate status it often gets. It is pretty short, if you can stay awake through some of the more academic parts, it can be read in a day.

The Silmarillion is a collection of stories covering the genesis of Middle Earth to the backgrounds of various characters in the core books and stories and names only mentioned in them. You get to learn a lot more about Gandalf and Sauron. It is a hard read at times, being very much like bibilcal text, but there are some true gems of stories in it as well. Pick it up if you are serious about learning more of the background of Middle Earth, but only if you are very serious about it. Not for the light reader, and obviously not necessary to enjoy the core books.

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Post Wed Dec 03, 2003 3:11 am
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Remus
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quote:
Originally posted by vaticide
... It is a hard read at times, being very much like bibilcal text, but there are some true gems of stories in it as well. Pick it up if you are serious about learning more of the background of Middle Earth, but only if you are very serious about it. Not for the light reader, and obviously not necessary to enjoy the core books.

-vaticide


I have to agree. There are also many interpretive articles written by knowledgeable tolkien followers, fans, professors of language and literature, explaining almost everything about Middle Earth (calendar, language, geography, etc) in plain language. These articles certainly more easy to read and very helpful in understanding the core books. Even then it's too much to handle, last year i collect dozen of those articles from online sources but never finish them. I think i threw them away at the end.

You can track down those articles through several Tolkien sites, TheOneRing.net, and Google.
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Post Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:13 am
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Namirrha
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I liked the Silmarillion a lot, but it could be slow going at times. Similar to a history book.
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Post Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:39 pm
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XeroX
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I think the Silmarillion is even more expensive then the Lord of the rings.
I think i will wait with buying that one, first the Hobbit.
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Post Wed Dec 03, 2003 10:02 pm
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vaticide
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XeroX: You can probably find it at a used book store for a good price, it has been out a long time and a lot of editions have been made. My copy was pretty battered, but readable, and I got it for around 1/4 the price of the book new. Then after I bought and read it I found my dad owns the 1st US Edition hardback version of it.

Also, definately read the Hobbit first. Read the Silmarillion last, especially if you haven't read Lord of the Rings or seen the movies.

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Post Thu Dec 04, 2003 2:10 am
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Toaster
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After reading the Silmarillion it felt like the LotR books was only a small, event in the history of middle-earth, all three books were covered in the last two pages of the Silmarillion.

BTW, was Silmarillion written before the Hobbit and the LotR books?
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Post Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:33 am
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XeroX
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I'm going to buy a english hardcover version of the hobbit.

I want to find this version: ('73 USA edition)


This one looks nice ('97 USA edition):


This looks a little better ('97 UK Edition)

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Post Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:58 am
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