Tolkien bibliography

[Valinorean]

I have seen bibliographies of Tolkien's writing before, but I thought we could start a bibliography of our own, as a quick reference for Guild members. Not all of us are familiar with all the books, especially the HoME titles, and we often don't want to publicize our ignorance by asking. Additionally, I think it will help those of us unfamiliar with all the HoME books decide which to read next, according to our own particular interests.

My idea is to list the title, the ISBN number, a quick synopsis of the content, and if the title is regularly abbreviated on the forum, what that abbreviation is.

Unfortunately, I am not at home with my books, so I can't start. Does anyone think this is a good idea, or am I duplicating info readily available elsewhere?

[Lhunithiliel]

I think this is a WONDERFUL idea!!!!
I guess, we could start from the Silmarillion?
I'll try to make up a short "presentation" for the book and post it. I am SURE that the Experts and the Masters, however, will be extremely of help here!

[Grond]

The best bibliography I've found on Tolkien is located here! (http://acunix.wheatonma.edu/mdrout/TolkienBiblio/)

[Valinorean]

Holy ****, Grond! I'm not worthy! (bowing)

Boy does that list make me feel inadequate. If I was a middle-aged man, I'd be shopping for a little red convertible just about now. Is that a comprehensive list of every piece of Lit. Crit. ever written about JRRT or his works? All I was hoping for was a list of what HE wrote!

But I'm sure it will prove useful to you advanced fellows.

Walter, the link you posted was just what I needed.

Thank you all for the suggestions! Keep them coming!

[Grond]

Well, J. R. R. T. wrote much more than just his published books... even when one considers what was published after his death. Many of his works were published piecemeal and some were published very early. If you browse through the link I provided you will see the stuff of which I speak.

[Grond]

My bad Valinorean. I didn't realize you were only looking for J. R. R. T.'s works. Here is the most comprehensive one of those that I have found. It is located here! (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Bistro/9656/tbchron.html)

[Grond]

I also missed Walter's post and failed to comment on what a complete library of information can be obtained at the Tolkien Wiki. Many have contributed to its great success and I hope to have time in the near future to help them as well.

[Valinorean]

Thanks a million! :D

I just got back from Barnes & Noble with HoME 3 and 5; The Lost Road seems like it will be really informative, especially when it comes to popular subjects on this forum. I gonna' go read now!

And Walter, the Tolkien Wiki is a great site, as Grond mentioned. Sigh . . . so much to surf, so little time.

[gate7ole]

I just finished Morgoth's Ring and I was amazed. It is by far the best book of the HOME series and probably even better than UT. The discussion of Finrod and Aredreth along with the Myths Transformed provide a great insight in Tolkien's thoughts. I recommend it to everyone. If the whole HOME series is too expenseive, at least this book is indispensable.

[Grond]

HoMe XI and XII are right in there with it. They are three that are most indispensable in my opinion. ;)

[Grond]

Heck... buy 'em all. They will end up providing you with hours of fun reading and allow you to see the concept from its beginning to its end. ;)

[Valinorean]

One thing I have noticed:

Even though we have a pretty large bookstore in town, there is never a very good supply of JRRT's books. At any given time, they have a ton of the movie-cover LoTRs, a few of the HoMEs, and maybe one Sil. So unless I buy online, I have to take what they have. I hate to give up the bookstore experience, but buying online is looking more and more attractive.

Do you think this is because demand is so high that they run out often, or are they not stocking them to begin with?

Also, does it annoy anyone else that the books are sandwiched in the middle of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section, between a lot of **** (IMHO, much of that section is indeed ****, but of course not all). I believe that Tolkien deserve a place in the literature section. Any opinions?

[gate7ole]

Do you think this is because demand is so high that they run out often?
I don't think that the HOME books are popular. Even the Silmarillion is not well known to people outside the Tolkien fans. I think that the bookstores do not have stock of these books because they don't sell as much as other books. On the contrary, though, LOTR has gained much popularity and can be found in any bookstore in various versions.

As for giving to Tolkien books a special space in the shelves of the bookstores, it depends on the size of the store. Small ones don't have such capabilites and thus they mix Tolkien with, say, Harry Potter.

[Eledhwen]

Also, does it annoy anyone else that the books are sandwiched in the middle of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section, between a lot of **** (IMHO, much of that section is indeed ****, but of course not all). I believe that Tolkien deserve a place in the literature section. Any opinions?At least the sci-fi addicts might accidentally buy a piece of world class literature, after which the zap blam spacecraft stuff just won't be the same. I get more annoyed by authors marketed as being comparable with Tolkien (even "at his best") who plainly aren't.:mad:

[Barliman Butterbur]

...we could start a bibliography of our own...

Well, my small contribution is a Google page (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22tolkien+bibliography%22) of Tolkien bibliographies, which contains about 1840 entries. :)


Also, there's a pretty nifty bibliography in the form of a 72-page downloadable pdf file (http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/~jkoeberl/Courses/Tolkien/biblio.pdf) you can have for your own private delectation!

Barley

"If ya can't say somethin' nice, don't say nuthin' at all." —Thumper, quoting his Mom

[Barliman Butterbur]

My small contribution: a Google search page (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tolkien+bibliography) listing all the Tolkien bibliographies on the web!

Barley

[Beren&Lutien]

A nice list is HERE (http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/collecting/list.htm). Just to show you how much Tolkien actually published!!

[Gil-Galad]

WOW,he published something almost every year....that is quite impressive.And even the number of books published after his death is astonishing.