And the timing of this reissue is clearly no coincidence, coming one day before The Rings of Power premiere. These questions of canon are becoming even more relevant now in the context of The Rings of Power, given that this new TV adaptation will go beyond Tolkien’s writings to introduce new characters and events. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth and The Rings of Power But he also complicates matters by occasionally drawing on a handful of sources outside the text, including some of Tolkien’s letters as well as the map of Middle-earth drawn by Pauline Baynes. In his introduction Foster seems to suggest that only the ‘big three’ works within Tolkien’s legendarium can be considered truly canonical: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, as well as the more minor work The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. But it seems that this is a necessary choice on Foster’s part given the challenge of reconciling the inconsistencies among Tolkien’s writings published in posthumous editions and the even greater challenge of determining what should be considered canonical. This could lead fans to question the whether the book was truly as “complete” as it claims to be. The more significant issue might be that Foster’s guide has never been updated to draw substantially from any of Tolkien’s works published after The Silmarillion in 1977. It would have been nice to see these supplementary pieces of text updated, but this is rather a minor quibble within the context of the overall book. Likewise, Nasmith’s note, which was written in 2003, mentions a fan who reached out to him “through the medium of e-mail,” as if this were some new-fangled technology. For instance, Foster’s introduction references “the appearance of The Silmarillion” as if it were a recent event, rather than something that occurred 45 years ago. Likewise, Foster’s introduction and Nasmith’s note on the illustrations remain the same as in previous editions, which is clear when you read them in 2022. For instance, Foster describes Déagol as Sméagol’s cousin, an assertion which may not be supported by the text it is safer to say that they are simply relatives. Few, if any, revisions seem to have been made, and some minor inaccuracies from previous versions remain. What’s in The Complete Guide to Middle-earth?īut beyond the new format for this reissue and the handful of new illustrations, the contents of the book are much the same as in previous editions. Undoubtedly these pieces, some of which are seeing print for the first time, will be a highlight for Tolkien fans. While the previous UK edition boasted 50 illustrations, this new version has 54. The illustrations, as in the previous UK edition, are provided by Ted Nasmith, one of the most celebrated visual interpreters of Tolkien’s world. This long overdue reissue comes out as an illustrated hardback designed to match the style of other recent Tolkien reissues. This week, Foster’s guide is published again in a new UK edition, for the first time in almost 20 years. The book has even drawn praise from Christopher Tolkien, who pointed readers towards it in his introduction to Unfinished Tales: “If I have been inadequate in explanation or unintentionally obscure, Mr Robert Foster’s Complete Guide to Middle-earth supplies, as I have found through frequent use, an admirable work of reference.” In the years since, Foster’s encyclopaedia of Middle-earth has been reprinted several times and has acquired a reputation as the definitive reference guide for J.R.R. This updated edition, published in 1978, brought Foster’s work to completion, as its new title suggested: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth. Foster was just 22 years old at the time.Īfter Tolkien’s death in 1973, Foster conducted a substantial update of his A-Z guide based on the wealth of information uncovered by the posthumous release of The Silmarillion. Then, in 1971, the entirety of his efforts were collected in a single book called A Guide to Middle-earth. For several years, he wrote short glossary articles on the references he compiled, which were published in fanzines. It was in this context that one young reader, Robert Foster, began the painstaking work of compiling all references to names, places and events in The Lord of the Rings, as well as in the two other books in Tolkien’s legendarium – The Hobbit and the slim poetry collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. But how these countless details related to each other, and to the broader history of Middle-earth, remained a mystery. Brief references to historical figures, such as Beren One-hand, and distant lands, such as the lost city of Valimar, lent an authenticity to Tolkien’s world. Tolkien’s lifetime, it must have been clear that there was an entire world and history behind the story of Frodo and his Ring. For readers who picked up The Lord of the Rings during J.R.R.
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