The History of Middle-earth
The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collects and analyses much of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien.
The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of Middle-earth as a fictional place with its own peoples, languages, and history, from his earliest notions of a "mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
Volumes 6-9 have been published independently as a boxed set, by HarperCollins in 1998 and 2002, as The History of The Lord of the Rings. In this set, Sauron Defeated retained only content related to The Lord of the Rings, and was published under the title The End of the Third Age.
Volumes and contents
- I. The Book of Lost Tales: Part One - (1983)
- II. The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two - (1984)
- III. The Lays of Beleriand - (1985)
- IV. The Shaping of Middle-earth - (1986)
- V. The Lost Road and Other Writings - (1987)
- VI. The Return of the Shadow - (1988)
- VII. The Treason of Isengard - (1989)
- VIII. The War of the Ring - (1990)
- IX. Sauron Defeated - (1992)
- X. Morgoth's Ring - (1993)
- XI. The War of the Jewels - (1994)
- XII. The Peoples of Middle-earth - (1996)
- Index - (2002)
The first two books introduce us to The Book of Lost Tales, the first conception of Tolkien's legendarium. The third volume deals with long poems concerning some of the main stories. The following two books follow developments from The Book of Lost Tales to the first so called Quenta Silmarillion. Volumes 6 through 9 discuss the development of The Lord of the Rings, while the second half of book 9 discusses the tale of Númenor. Books 10 and 11 discuss the later developments of The Silmarillion, which served as source material for the published edition. The final book entails the development of The Lord of the Rings Appendices, followed by some assorted essays J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in the last years of his life.
A thirteenth volume was published in 2002, The History of Middle-earth Index. This book has completely integrated all the indices from the set in one large index.
Conception
After the publishing his edition of The Silmarillion in 1977, Christopher Tolkien continued investigating the earlier manuscripts of his father, preparing a book which he called The History of The Silmarillion. In 1981, he wrote to Rayner Unwin (then chairman of Allen and Unwin), informing him of the work acomplished till that point: a book of 1,968 pages so far, 16,5 inches across.
Publication history and gallery
Here gives the publication history of the three-volume set. For any of the 12 volumes see its respective article.
In 2000 & 2001, The History of Middle-earth series was first released in a three-volume deluxe India paper edition, issued separately in cloth-covered slipcases, each limited to 1000 copies. They cover the volume 1-5, 6-9, and 10-12 respectively.
In 2002 the standard one-slipcased boxed set was published. A deluxe boxed set was released in 2017.
- India paper edition
- — HarperCollins, hardcover with slipcase (2000), ISBN 0007105053
- — HarperCollins, hardcover with slipcase (2001), ISBN 0007105061
- — HarperCollins, hardcover with slipcase (2001), ISBN 000710507X
- 2002 edition
- — HarperCollins, boxed set (2002), ISBN 0007105088
- — HarperCollins, hardcover (2002), pp. 1920. ISBN 0007149158
- — HarperCollins, hardcover (2002), pp. 2032. ISBN 0007149166
- — HarperCollins, hardcover (2002), pp. 1488. ISBN 0007149174
- 2017 deluxe edition
- — HarperCollins, boxed set (2017), ISBN 0008259844
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.
