The Tolkien Mega-Thread

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From 1974 to 1985 I read Lord of the Rings every year in the first week of September.

I’m not like that any more.
I tried to read LotR roughly every three years. Same with Amber and Barsoom, and a few others. I wanted enough time so that it would seem sort of new and fresh, figuring that if I read it too quickly I would feel like I knew it _too_ well. I never seem to have that kind of time anymore. :sad:
 
Early editions in several languages.

Dutch (1960)

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Bulgarian (1975)

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Icelandic (1978)

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Russian (1976)

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Czech (1979)

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Romanian (1975)

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And the fantastic Portuguese (1962)

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I think they are legitimate in that they were entered into a contest for a new set of covers for the most recent Chinese edition, but that they ended up losing to a more generic cover.

Pity as some of his internal art was amazing:

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Mmmmmmmmmmmm...

Amazon product

Sumptuous slipcased edition of Tolkien’s classic epic tale of adventure, fully illustrated in colour for the first time by the author himself. This deluxe volume is quarterbound in leather and includes many special features unique to this edition.
Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Over 100 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors’ editions become prized and valuable items of publishing.
This one-volume deluxe slipcased edition contains the complete text, fully corrected and reset, which is printed in red and black and features, for the very first time, thirty colour illustrations, maps and sketches drawn by Tolkien himself as he composed this epic work. These include the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, marvellous facsimiles created by Tolkien to accompany the famous ‘Bridge of Khazad-dum’ chapter. Also appearing are two poster-size, fold-out maps revealing all the detail of Middle-earth.
This very special deluxe edition is quarterbound in cloth and red leather, with raised ribs on the spine and stamped in two foils. The pages are edged in gold and contained within are special features unique to this edition.

Very nice edition and with the addition of illustrations by Tolkien himself then I can see me succumbing to a purchase.
 
Keep in mind, you’ll need this to go with it.

Yeah, I've got that one already

I thought I was set for Lord of the Rings, though, with the limited leatherbound slipcase with Alan Lee illutrations.

But one that restores Tolkien's original plans for including colour plates of the Book of [MARZAPAN*].?....grrrammit, I can't pass that up.

* - I'm not looking up the spelling right now
 
So, I recently read L. Sprague De Camp’s Lost Continents, about the Atlantis myth, and it got me thinking about Numenor. Its downfall is clearly partially modeled on the Atlantis story; Tolkien ends the Akallabeth in the Silmarillion by noting that the survivors “spoke of Mar-nu-Falmar that was whelmed in the waves, Akallabeth the Downfallen, Atalante in the Eldarin tongue.” Like Plato’s Atlantis, Numenor is a large island in the Western Sea which comes to have an advanced civilization and launches a campaign of conquest against the continent to the East. Both are sunk between the waves. But there is nothing like Ar-Pharazon’s expedition to Valinor in Plato’s story. In fact, Plato doesn’t really tell us why Atlantis sank, though it’s implied that this is divine vengeance.

When occultists and theosophists got ahold of the Atlantis myth in the late 1800s-early 1900s, though, they expanded on it and some shaped it closer to Tolkien’s take. The closest I’ve found is the eccentric R. Swinburne Clymer, who ran his own branch of Rosicrucians from Pennsylvania. In his Philosophy of Fire (1907) he wrote of the Atlanteans that:
But there came at last a time when they, who had the knowledge only in trust, permitted themselves to think, to wish, and to plan for grasping the absolute control of the whole world. In this they sought to climb into the seat and place of the Supreme. Beyond the earth lies only the universe...

It seems unlikely to me that Tolkien had ever read any Clymer, and this is probably just a coincidence. Clymer doesn’t describe exactly a military invasion of the realm of the divine, and given the cosmography that Tolkien created, having Numenor fall because of an attempt to reach the Undying Lands is a fairly obvious twist to introduce. But it would be interesting to know more about how Tolkien created his Numenor story.
 
It seems unlikely to me that Tolkien had ever read any Clymer, and this is probably just a coincidence. Clymer doesn’t describe exactly a military invasion of the realm of the divine, and given the cosmography that Tolkien created, having Numenor fall because of an attempt to reach the Undying Lands is a fairly obvious twist to introduce. But it would be interesting to know more about how Tolkien created his Numenor story.
Isn't this basically the Tower of Babel story?
 
J.R.R. Tolkien would be very proud of the turn this thread has taken.
From what I understand, he was mostly bemused by his fans. Especially in the 60s and 70s, when the hippies picked up on his pastiche of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Frodo Lives, man!
 
From what I understand, he was mostly bemused by his fans. Especially in the 60s and 70s, when the hippies picked up on his pastiche of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Frodo Lives, man!

From what I heard his wife got realy annoyed by stoned hippies caling the house all hours of the night because they weren't aware of the time difference.
 
From what I heard his wife got realy annoyed by stoned hippies caling the house all hours of the night because they weren't aware of the time difference.
I know he was baffled by things like people getting married in Elven ceremonies.
 
From what I understand, he was mostly bemused by his fans. Especially in the 60s and 70s, when the hippies picked up on his pastiche of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Frodo Lives, man!
I first read The Lord of the Rings on a stoner hippie commune in Cowaramup in September 1974. It was the only book they had.
 
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