The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book is a 1962 collection of poetry by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book contains 16 poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, the rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well. The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
Contents
The book's "Preface" presents the poems as a translation from the Red Book of Westmarch, and gives some background information that is not found elsewhere: e.g. the name of the tower at Dol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers of Gondor. The poems carry some fictional backstory, linking them to Hobbit folklore; they are all supposedly works that Hobbits enjoyed and were preserved in the margins of the Red Book, with several of them being attributed to Bilbo Baggins and Sam Gamgee.
- I. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- II. Bombadil Goes Boating
- III Errantry
- IV. Princess Mee
- V. The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
- VI. The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon
- VII. The Stone Troll
- VIII. Perry-the-Winkle
- IX. The Mewlips
- X. Oliphaunt
- XI. Fastitocalon
- XII. Cat
- XIII. Shadow-Bride
- XIV. The Hoard
- XV. The Sea-Bell
- XVI. The Last Ship
The order of the poems form a thematical progress: two poems with the titular character, two "faerie" poems, two with the Man in the Moon, two with Trolls; three "bestiary", and four "atmospheric/emotional". The Mewlips doesn't fit to a category, and placed in the middle as a divider.
- Poems proposed but eventually omitted:
- — The Trees of Kortirion and You and Me, later published in The Book of Lost Tales: Part One
- — The Dragon's Visit, later published in the revised edition of The Annotated Hobbit
- Poems added in the 2014 extended edition:
- — Once upon a Time, a poem related to Tom Bombadil.
- — An Evening in Tavrobel, recounting an evening in Tavrobel, a place in Tol Eressëa in the early version of the legendarium.
Background
Tom Bombadil was a figure in J.R.R. Tolkien's mind that appeared in his writings at various times, including a 1937 poem; eventually he became a canonical part of the Legendarium while Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien's aunt Jane Neave enjoyed the figure of Tom in The Fellowship of the Ring and asked him if he could make a book out of him that would make an affordable Christmas present. As Tom was a vague, deliberately unexplained figure, Tolkien didn't feel that anything more could be told about him, but thought that his 1937 poem could be made into an illustrated booklet, with Pauline Baynes in his mind. Rayner Unwin suggested to collect more poems with it so as to be a more publishable book. Tolkien then researched some older, half-forgotten poems (the value of which he doubted) and started a laborious process to rediscover, rub up, improve and re-write them; something which, as he wrote to his aunt, he greatly enjoyed.
Tolkien thought (and Baynes agreed) that the poems didn't fit together as a collection. Part of Tolkien's re-writing attempted to make them fit with each other and into Hobbit-lore; he decided to include a Foreword that would make this connection, and wrote a second poem with Tom in order to fit him better into the world of the Shire and Hobbits.
Illustrations
Despite Baynes suggested that his poems were rather "felt", Tolkien insisted that his images were definite, clear and precise. He instructed Baynes that the illustrations "shouldn't be comical". Then she collaborated with art editor Ronald Eames, and finished six illustrations by August 1962. Though there were some criticism from Tolkien to Baynes' work, in the end, Tolkien credited for a large part Baynes for the commercial success of the book.
Extended edition
An extended edition was published in 2014, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. This edition includes: an introduction by the editors, earlier versions of 13 poems with textual notes, a later 'Bombodil' poem Once upon a Time, a previously unpublished text The Bumpus, the predecessor of Perry-the-Winkle, and the complete fragment of a prose story featuring Tom Bombadil. Some revision history of the poems are as follows:
- Revised, title unchanged
- — The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- — Errantry (eventually became the Eärendillinwë)
- — Fastitocalon
- Revised, title changed
- — The Princess Ní → Princess Mee
- — The Cat and the Fiddle → The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
- — Why the Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon → The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon
- — Pēdo & Pōdex → The Root of the Boot → The Stone Troll
- — The Bumpus → Perry-the-Winkle
- — Knocking at the Door → The Mewlips
- — Iumbo, or, Ye Kind of Ye Oliphaunt → Oliphaunt
- — The Shadow Man → Shadow-Bride
- — Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden → The Hoard
- — Looney → The Sea-Bell
- — Firiel → The Last Ship
The 2024 edition includes an "About the Artist" section before the Preface.
Publication history and gallery
UK editions
- First edition
- — George Allen & Unwin hardcover (1962), pp. 64. ISBN 0048210196
- — Unwin Hyman hardcover (1990), pp. 75. ISBN 0044407270
- — Unwin Paperbacks paperback (1990), ISBN 0044407262
- Extended edition
- — HarperCollins hardcover (2014), pp. 304. ISBN 0007557272 - (also part of the 2015 Tolkien Treasury pocket set)
- — HarperCollins paperback (2024), pp. 320. ISBN 0008700192
Audio performances
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.
