A question about Tolkien's books

[Anáwiel]

I have read the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion and the Hobbit so far. There are places and lands that are not mentioned there, like Fornost, Arnor, Cardolan, Edhelion, Annuminas... This part of the history of Middle Earth is less known to me, mostly from summaries in internet, in which book can I find more stories of the history of Men and Elves after the end of the first age?
Many thanks for the help in advance

[Gothmog]

To find more of the stories I suggest that you start with Unfinished Tales, which gives more detail on parts of the stories of the Silmarillion and "Peoples of Middle-earth" which is Book 12 of the 'History of Middle-earth' (you will often see this series refered to as HoME.)

There is a great deal of information in the HoME series about the legendarium and it is worth getting them all if you can afford them. But the above two are a good starting point in my opinion.

[Barliman Butterbur]

I have read the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion and the Hobbit so far. There are places and lands that are not mentioned there, like Fornost, Arnor, Cardolan, Edhelion, Annuminas... This part of the history of Middle Earth is less known to me, mostly from summaries in internet, in which book can I find more stories of the history of Men and Elves after the end of the first age?
Many thanks for the help in advance

First, welcome to the Forum! :) It's good to hear from Bulgaria! I think we have another one or two members from there, no doubt you will run across each other in due time.

As Gothmog recommended, Unfinished Tales is a good starting place for "filling in the blanks," and then you can work your way outwards as your time, money, and thirst for knowledge allow. :D

Barley

[Thorin]

Yes, Unfinished Tales helped me get a better grasp on the Numenorean Kingdom and other aspects of the 2nd Age that weren't as familiar to me as the 1st and 3rd Age.

Beware...once you undertake such a journey, it will be hard to quit! You are talking over 6000 years of history and that isn't even talking about the Valinorian years and events that happened before the 1st age began!

Also strongly suggest you read Morgoth's Ring and War of the Jewels of the History of Middle Earth series. These books really give you a pre-sun, moon and pre-trees history of events that occurred in Arda and Valinor.

[HLGStrider]

This may sound like reading the footnotes to do a book review, but get a "Tolkien Guide." They are great when you are starting out with his writings.

Growing up in a town of 10,000 (which was the biggest town for 80 miles in any direction) our library didn't have a ton of options. After the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings I had to wait for Christmas to get the Sil and in the mean time what was I to do? The library had "The Book of Lost Tales" but the only other book was "Robert Fosters Guide to Middle Earth." I read through that and it was great. I got knowledge in a quick, condensed manner. It explained gaps, geographical references, and historical characters. It was like an encyclopedia. There are a couple of these guides (I own Foster's and Tylers), and they are a lot of fun . . . and a great way to cheat if you want to pretend you know what you are talking about in online discussions. ;)

Also the stories are actually pretty well written in short form and having that under my belt helped me appreciate the language more when I finally got the full versions.

[Barliman Butterbur]

Yes, Unfinished Tales helped me get a better grasp on the Numenorean Kingdom and other aspects of the 2nd Age that weren't as familiar to me as the 1st and 3rd Age.

Beware...once you undertake such a journey, it will be hard to quit! You are talking over 6000 years of history and that isn't even talking about the Valinorian years and events that happened before the 1st age began!

Also strongly suggest you read Morgoth's Ring and War of the Jewels of the History of Middle Earth series. These books really give you a pre-sun, moon and pre-trees history of events that occurred in Arda and Valinor.

And what the hell, while we're at it, let me further recommend four more books:

The Letters of J.R.R. Tokien by Humphrey Carpenter
Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter
J.R.R. Tolkien by Tom Shippey
J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle-earth by Daniel Grotta

The latter three are all biographies, all of which pretty much fill in the blanks left by the others.

Now — arrange a very comfortable easy chair (not so comfortable that you fall asleep reading) with a low table next to it, large enough to hold books and refreshments. Have a good reading lamp in position. Now, go to it!

Barley

[Eledhwen]

If you are as fond of maps as Bilbo, you might benefit from having some maps of Middle-earth open as you read. You will know that Beleriand was lost beneath the sea at the chaining of Morgoth, and the new sea-boundary of Middle-earth became the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin), which are on the West Coast of the Lord of the Rings Middle-earth maps. There is also Valinor and Numenor. The maps also help gauge the scale of the journeys, of which there are many throughout the stories.

There are maps on the internet, but I will avoid linking to any in case the link attracts the attention of The Tolkien Estate (they're a bit/lot touchy about copyright).

There is an atlas of middle-earth available too, with the various journeys marked on it.

[Barliman Butterbur]

There are maps on the internet, but I will avoid linking to any in case the link attracts the attention of The Tolkien Estate (they're a bit/lot touchy about copyright).

I'm absolutely positive that you don't break copyright laws just by supplying a link to a site! In fact that's why I always supply links to sites that bristle with copyright warnings. I haven't distributed a thing; I've only supplied a link to a site. There's no way they can get me for copyright infringement simply for pointing someone to a source of information.

(The Tolkien Estate's on your tail — booooooooo!!!! :eek: :p )

Barley

[Anáwiel]

Thank you very much for your replies *runs to the store to buy the Unfinished Tales*
See you in a few days, when I've finished reading it :D

[Barliman Butterbur]

Thank you very much for your replies *runs to the store to buy the Unfinished Tales*
See you in a few days, when I've finished reading it :D

Perhaps even before beginning UT, get into the copious footnotes and appendices at the end of LOTR. Better yet, do both! :)

Barley

[Illuin]

Yes, the Unfinished Tales is the one to get next. On a side note, the UT is not just a fill-in-the-blanker; it’s a fantastic read. Aldarion and Erendis is one of my favorite stories from any of Tolkien’s works even though it is…well…an “Unfinished Tale”:rolleyes: