The Fellowship of the Ring
by J.R.R. Tolkien
In celebration of The Hobbit's fiftieth anniversary, the authoritative edition of its stirring sequel, The Lord of the Rings, is elegantly presented in handsome, uniform editions. The First Part of The Lord of the Rings finds Bilbo Baggins (hero of The Hobbit) preparing to celebrate his 'eleventy-first' birthday. Sixty unremarkable years have passed since his triumphant return from the orcmines, where he outwitted the horrible Gollum and carried off his magical ring—-a feat that cannot go forever unavenged. The ring may hold more power than anyone suspects; indeed, dark forces are already conspiring to snatch it back.
Hardcover
English
Brand New
Publisher Description
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, is set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth - home to many strange beings, and most notably hobbits, a peace-loving "little people," cheerful and shy. Since its original British publication in 1954-55, the saga has entranced readers of all ages. It is at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale. Critic Michael Straight has hailed it as one of the "very few works of genius in recent literature." Middle-earth is a world receptive to poets, scholars, children, and all other people of good will. Donald Barr has described it as "a scrubbed morning world, and a ringing nightmare world...especially sunlit, and shadowed by perils very fundamental, of a peculiarly uncompounded darkness." The story of ths world is one of high and heroic adventure. Barr compared it to Beowulf, C.S. Lewis to Orlando Furioso, W.H. Auden to The Thirty-nine Steps. In fact the saga is sui generis - a triumph of imagination which springs to life within its own framework and on its own terms.
Author Biography
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specializing in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously "The Hobbit" (1937) and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth.
Review
"A unique, wholly realized other world, evoked from deep in the well of Time, massively detailed, absorbingly entertaining, profound in meaning." -- New York Times
Review Quote
"Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." -- C.S. Lewis "Destined to outlast our time." The New York Herald-Tribune "Exciting... Mr. Tolkien's invention is unflagging" -- W.H. Auden --
Details
