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The Book of Lost Tales 2 (The History of Middle-earth, Book 2): The History of Middle-earth 2: Pt. 2 [Paperback]

Christopher Tolkien (Author), J. R. R. Tolkien (Original Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 7 May 2002 | Series: History of Middle-Earth (Book 2)

The second of a two-book set that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien’s epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.

This second part of The Book of Lost Tales includes the tale of Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin, itself the finest and most exciting depiction of a battle that Tolkien ever wrote. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.

This series of fascinating books has now been repackaged to complement the distinctive and classic style of the ‘black cover’ A-format paperbacks of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

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The Book of Lost Tales 2 (The History of Middle-earth, Book 2): The History of Middle-earth 2: Pt. 2 + The Book of Lost Tales 1 (The History of Middle-earth, Book 1): The History of Middle-earth 1: Pt. 1 + The Lays of Beleriand (The History of Middle-earth, Book 3): The History of Middle-Earth 3
Price For All Three: £20.87

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins; New Ed edition (7 May 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0261102141
  • ISBN-13: 978-0261102149
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

‘Christopher Tolkien shows himself to be his father’s son… Tolkien devotees will rejoice’ The New York Times Book Review

‘In these Lost Tales we have the scholar joyously gambolling in the thicket of his imagination… a Commentary and Notes greatly enrich the quest’ Daily Telegraph

‘The Tales will be appreciated by those who have read The Silmarillion andwish to examine how Tolkien improved his story and style from their original form, and how weventually The Lord of the Rings came to stand independently with only a few hints from the early mythology’ British Book News

From the Back Cover

This second part of 'The Book of Lost Tales' includes the tales of Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.

"Christopher Tolkien shows himself to be his father's son, delving into the question of Elvish genealogies…he gives the reader histories of each of the character's names as it evolved in the course of Tolkien's revisions…Tolkien devotees will rejoice."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"The 'Tales' will be appreciated by those who have read 'The Silmarillion' and wish to examine how Tolkien improved his story and style from their original form, and how eventually 'The Lord of the Rings' came to stand independently with only a few hints from the early mythology."
BRITISH BOOK NEWS

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
21 reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Tales change and develop 7 Feb 2004
By Sally-Anne
Format:Paperback
In real mythologies the tales change and develop over time: names, times and places change with the constant retelling and embellishing by the story-tellers. In real mythologies, accounts often become fragmented and there may be several differing accounts of a single event. It's the same with the mythology of Middle Earth and Valinor. The way Tolkien develops the stories over the course of his life-time is analogous to the way real heroic events become legend and the legends become myths and all sorts of changes reshape them. Real life examples would be 1) the story of Beowulf who may have been a real but mortal hero of his people, but in the telling and retelling of the tale over the centuries, he was able to swim for 2 weeks in the freezing seas of Northern Europe wearing mail and he was able to do battle under water; 2) the Arthurian legends where the hero has been claimed to have lived and had his court at a dozen or more locations in Britain; 3) the Merlin legends where Merlin may or may not have been associated with Arthur 4) The Robin Hood legends where again, Robin has been claimed to have been based at various locations. And so on.

Lost Tales Part 1 is a collection of accounts of the origins of the world of Middle Earth and Valinor, concentrating mainly on the gods and the elves. The stories overlap those in Silmarillion but differ in many instances. Names, characters and places had been changed by the time Tolkien finalised the material that went into The Silmarillion. It's fascinating to see the character and story development with notes and commentary from Christopher Tolkien drawing attention to the changes and stating (where the reasons were known to him) and providing convincing speculations (where specific information was not known) why these changes were made....

This book will be appreciated by the person who enjoyed reading Lord of the Rings but was left wanting to know more, and partially satisfied their curiosity by reading Silmarillion, but was still left wanting to know more .... Read more ›

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series 6 Dec 2008
By Michael W. Perry
Format:Hardcover
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complex as Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth series as those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.

GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V, EARLY TALES

These five volumes deal primarily with Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986).... Read more ›
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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A challenging but well worth the time read 7 Oct 2000
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is really great. It has some stories which don't appear in the sillmarillion yet are really interesting if you have read the silmarillion. You have to concentrate quite hard to understand it all but it is worth it, some of the stories are fantastic. I would recommend this to anyone who has read the silmarillion and wants get deeper into the tolkien mythology. Christopher Tolkien does a superb job of making it all understandable, by linking the stories and refering to the silmarillion.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Overview of The History of Middle-earth Series 6 Dec 2008
By Michael W. Perry
Format:Hardcover
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complex as Tolkien's writings. Here's an overview of the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, which was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Hopefully, it will help you select which book or books to buy.

Keep something in mind. In the U.S. Houghton Mifflin publishes Tolkien's authorized works in hardback and trade paperback editions, while Ballantine Books publishes them as cheaper mass-market paperbacks. For some reason, Ballantine doesn't always make it clear that some of their titles are part of the same History of Middle-earth series as those published by Houghton Mifflin. If the title is the same, the content is the same. Which you buy depends on your taste in books and finances. I have copies of both.

GROUP ONE, VOLUMES I - V, EARLY TALES

These five volumes deal primarily with Tolkien's writings before the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). In them, Tolkien was struggling as a still unknown author to create his first history of Middle-earth.

Vol 1 & 2, The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 ( 1983) & 2 (1984). The Book of Lost Tales was written during the 1910s and 1920s. Wikipedia describes it this way: "The framework for the book is that a mortal Man visits the Isle of Tol Eressëa where the Elves live. In the earlier versions of the `Lost Tales' this man is named Eriol, of some vague north European origin, but in later versions he becomes Ælfwine, an Englishman of the Middle-ages."

Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (1985). These are collections of poems, many of them incomplete, written between the 1920s and the late 1940s.

Vol 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986).... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Lost Tales 1 (The History of Middle-earth, Book 1)
Bought this book as a Christmas present for my son in law, he loved it and the price was right too.
Published 2 months ago by amanda joy
5.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Lost Tales 2 (The History of Middle-earth, Book 2)
Bought this book as a Christmas present for my son in law, he loved it, and the price was right too.
Published 2 months ago by amanda joy
5.0 out of 5 stars great series of books to collect and read
i bought these books as abirthday gift for a friend who wanted to collect the whole series- they were thrilled with them
Published 3 months ago by DJW
5.0 out of 5 stars Tolkien!!!
Since when has Tolkien ever been anything but great? Read these books many times and bought these two for a friend's birthday. Would I recommend them, of course I would!
Published 3 months ago by Miss Anne Selby
4.0 out of 5 stars like picking up an essay.
Tolkien was the first to write an amazing fantasy book, but at first that hadn't been his intention, if you read up on a lot of it you will find that the Hobbit was a book for his... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Simon Wells
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Development of a Fantasy World
I'm sure that there are many, like me, who eagerly devoured all the Middle Earth material available to them, graduating from the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings to the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by David Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars Tolkienian Archaeology
2nd volume of two 'archaeological' exploration of JRRT's mythology, conducted by his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien. Read more
Published 6 months ago by magdalene42
5.0 out of 5 stars Tolkienian Archaeology
1st volume of two 'archaeological' exploration of JRRT's mythology, conducted by his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien. Read more
Published 6 months ago by magdalene42
5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart!
Be warned: it is not advisable to read this unless you have read the Silmarillion and understood it.

That aside, this book and the next are fantastic. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Adam
5.0 out of 5 stars Series Overview
Collections of an author's work are often confusing, particularly when what the author has created is as complex as Tolkien's writings. Read more
Published on 4 July 2010 by Michael W. Perry
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