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Daniel Helen (ed.), Death and Immortality in Middle-earth (10/1)

Peter Roe Series XVII

Proceedings of The Tolkien Society Seminar, 2016. Paperback. 1st edition.

J.R.R. Tolkien deplored allegory and rejected any suggestion that The Lord of the Rings has an inner meaning or message. In reading back the tale, however, he became aware of a dominant motif:
‘The real theme for me is […] Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race “doomed” to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race “doomed” not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete’ (Letters, p. 246).
Despite the lucidity of this statement, the theme of death and immortality has been left relatively unexplored in Tolkien studies. In recognition of this, and to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, The Tolkien Society called for presentations on this important topic for its seminar in Leeds on 2 July 2016. Published under the auspices of the Society’s Peter Roe Memorial Fund, this book features a collection of twelve papers delivered on the day by aspiring and established Tolkien scholars alike.
 
Introduction - Daniel Helen
Tolkien and the Somme - Matthew B. Rose 
Tolkien and T.S. Eliot: the waste land and a fallen king - Tânia Azevedo
Tolkien and disability: the narrative function of disabled characters in Middle-earth - Irina Metzler
Facing death: how characters in The Lord of the Rings meet the prospect of their own demise and the loss of others - Giovanni Carmine Costabile
The elven perspective of life, death and immortality, and its influence on humanity - Aslı Bülbül Candaş
Mortal immortals: the fallibility of elven immortality in Tolkien’s writing - Anna Milon
Gifts in harmony? A philological exploration of Tolkien’s invented words for ‘life’ and ‘death’ - Andrew Higgins
Music of life: the creation of Middle-earth - Sarah Rose 
Transmission: an escape from death in Tolkien’s work? - Gaëlle Abaléa 
Recurrent pattern of the Fall in Tolkien’s legendarium Massimiliano Izzo 
Frodo and Saruman: euformation, dysformation, and immortality in The Lord of the Rings - Adam B. Shaeffer
‘Tears are the very wine of blessedness’: joyful sorrow in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings - Dimitra Fimi

The History of Middle-earth Collector's Set

HarperCollins, 2017. 1st edition thus. Three hardbacks (no dustjackets issued) in a slipcase, containing all twelve parts of The History of Middle-earth.

This special collector’s edition features all 12 parts of the series bound in three volumes. Each book includes a silk ribbon marker and is quarter-bound in black, with grey boards stamped in gold foil, and the set is presented in a matching black slipcase.

J.R.R. Tolkien is famous the world over for his unique literary creation, exemplified in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. What is less well known, however, is that he also produced a vast amount of further material that greatly expands upon the mythology and numerous stories of Middle-earth, and which gives added life to the thousand-year war between the Elves and the evil spirit Morgoth, and his terrifying lieutenant, Sauron.

It was to this enormous task of literary construction that his Tolkien’s youngest son and literary heir, Christopher, applied himself to produce the monumental and endlessly fascinating series of twelve books, The History of Middle-earth.

This very special collector’s edition brings together all twelve books into three hardback volumes – over 5,000 pages of fascinating Tolkien material – and places them in one matching box.*

White Tree of Gondor desk light (3/1)

Plexiglass LED lights on pedestal with the tree of Gondor, surrounded by the Ring inscription. 6"/22 cm high. The lamp has seven different colour settings. With the supplied cable you connect the lamp to the USB-port of your computer.*

Not All Those Who Wander t-shirt (29/12)

Black t-shirt of 100% cotton with on the front Tolkien's monogram, surrounded by the ring inscription in Tengwar and the line "Not all those who wander are lost".*

Hammond/Scull, The JRR Tolkien Companion and Guide 3 vol. Set (HarC) 20/12

HarperCollins, 2017. 1st edition. Slipcase containing three hardbacks Chronology and two volumes Reader's Guide.*

The three volumes contained in this slipcase, written by two of the foremost experts on J.R.R. Tolkien, comprise the definitive handbook to one of the most popular authors of the 20th century. Tolkien's progress is traced from his birth in South Africa in 1892, to the battlefields of France and the lecture-halls of Leeds and Oxford, to his success as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, until his death in 1973. His many academic and literary achievements, his public reception, and his enduring fame are examined in detail.

The first volume in this set is a Chronology of Tolkien's life and works, the most extensive biographical resource about him ever published. Thousands of details have been drawn from letters, contemporary documents in libraries and archives, and a wide variety of other published and unpublished sources. Assembled together, they form a portrait of Tolkien in all his aspects: the distinguished scholar of Old and Middle English, the capable teacher and administrator, the devoted husband and father, the brilliant creator of Middle-earth.

The second and third volumes, the Reader's Guide, is an indispensable introduction to Tolkien's life, writings, and art. It includes histories and discussions of his works; analyses of the components of his vast 'Silmarillion' mythology; brief biographies of persons important in his life; accounts of places he knew; essays on topics such as Tolkien's interests and attitudes towards contemporary issues, ideas found in his works, adaptations, and invented languages; and checklists of his published works, his poetry, his pictorial art, and translations of his writing.