In addition to the number of short “guides” to Tolkien and his works from publishers such as York Notes, Barron’s Book Notes, SparkNotes, and even Dummy’s Guide, there are many excellent books dealing with his works. However, as The Hobbit has been in print for over 80 years and The Lord of the Rings for over 60 years, the list of possible titles and the range of their quality is naturally quite large. Below is a (admittedly not exhaustive) list of critical works for new and experienced readers to help broaden your reading of the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and other works.
The list was initially compiled by Ian Collier, David Doesan, and Troels Forchammer from an earlier list by Charles E. noad there have been updates and additions by will sherwood.
You are reading: Jrr tolkien biography books
biographical
tolkien: a biography. humphrey carpenter. allen and unwin, london. 1977.
the signs: c.s. Lewis, J.R.R. tolkien, charles williams and his friends . humphrey carpenter. allen and unwin, london. 1977.
the letters of j.r.r. tolkien. humphrey carpenter edition with christopher tolkien. george allen and unwin, london. 1981.
tolkien and the great war. John Garth. harpercollins, london. 2002.
tolkien’s roots of middle earth. Robert S. blackham. the history press ltd, stroud. 2006.
tolkien’s oxford. Robert S. blackham. the history press ltd, stroud. 2008.
tolkien and the danger of war. Robert S. blackham. the history press ltd, stroud. 2011.
the tolkien family album. john & priscilla tolkien, harper collins, london. 1992.
the worlds of j.r.r. tolkien: the places that inspired middle-earth. john garth. Frances Lincoln, London. 2020.
scholarship: tolkien artworks and maps
j.r.r. tolkien: artist and illustrator. Wayne G. Hammond & cristina scull. harpercollins, london. 1995.
tolkien’s hobbit art. Wayne G. Hammond & cristina scull. harpercollins, london. 2011.
the art of tolkien’s lord of the rings. Wayne G. Hammond & cristina scull. harpercollins, london. 2015.
the travels of frodo: an atlas of the lord of the rings by jrr tolkien. barbara strachey. unwin paperback books, london. 1981.
the atlas of middle earth. karen wynn fonstad. revised edition, houghton mifflin, boston, 1992; harpercollins, london. 1992.
tolkien’s maps of middle earth. brian sibley & john howe. harpercollins, london. 2003.
scholarship: tolkien books
The Lord of the Rings a reading companion. Wayne Hammond & cristina scull. harpercollins, london. 2014.
the road to middle earth. tom shippey allen and unwin. London. 2005.
j.r.r. tolkien author of the century. tom shippey harpercollins, london. 2000.
tolkien’s scrapbook. Alida Becker Edition Running Press, Philadelphia, 1978. Reprinted as Tolkien’s Thesaurus, Books of Courage, Running Press. 1989.
tolkien’s roots of middle earth. Robert S. blackham. the history press ltd. 2006.
the annotated hobbit. j.r.r. tolkien & douglas and anderson. 2nd edition, harpercollins, london. 2003.
tolkien the medievalist. jane routledge opportunity edition, new york. 2003.
tolkien and the invention of myth: a reader. jane chance edition kentucky university press, lexington. 2004.
tolkien’s handbook and middle earth. colin duríez. monarch, tunbridge wells. 1992.
the complete guide to middle earth: from the hobbit to the silmarillion. robert foster. ballantine books, new york, 1978; allen and unwin, london. 1978.
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the word ring: tolkien and the oxford english dictionary. peter gilliver, jeremy marshall, edmund weiner. oxford university press, oxford. 2006.
meditations on middle earth. Karen Haber edition. light of the earth 2003. contains contributions from famous writers, p. le guin, martin, pratchett.
tolkien gedling 1914. Andrew H. Morton & john hayes. brewing books, studley. 2008.
the end of tolkien’s bag. Andrew H. morton brewing books, studley. 2009.
a tolkien compass. jared lobdell edition. open court publishing, la sale, illinois, 1975; ballantine books, new york. 1980.
tolkien: the man and the myth. jose pearce harpercollins, london. 1998.
j.r.r. tolkien. Deborah Webster Rogers, & ivor a. rogers twayne’s english author series 304. twayne publishers, boston. 1980.
Dangerous Kingdoms: Celts and Norse in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. marjorie burns Toronto University Press, Toronto. 2005.
Defending Middle Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity. patrick curry houghton mifflin, boston. 2004.
There are many excellent studies on Tolkien that require some knowledge of Tolkien’s biography and works. some of these are free, but others can be more expensive and harder to find. Tolkien studies have begun to expand beyond literary studies into areas of study such as ecology, musicology, and astrology.
academic journals and conference proceedings
tolkien studies. eds. douglas a. Anderson (since 2012 David Bratman), Michael D. c. drought, & verlyn flieger. west virginia university press, morgantown, 2004 onwards. An annual academic publication of Tolkien scholarship that includes an abstract or reviews of published articles and books on Tolkien’s fiction and scholarly work. (Note: Some of the essays in these volumes are highly academic, while others are easy to read. There are occasional instances of Tolkien’s own work included.) you can also find all volumes in project muse.
here on the shore. articles collected from workshops and seminars of the german tolkien society with articles in english and german.
peter roe notebooks. He collected papers from Tolkien Society seminar workshops and seminars, short articles, and speeches by guest speakers from the General Assembly.
walking tree press. collections of articles and books (especially his cormarë series) including collections by tom shippey (roots and branches: selected articles on tolkien), dimitra fimi, and thomas honegger (arda sub-creation: world-building in the works of j. r. r. tolkien, its precursors and legacies), and studies of a single author such as claudio a. testi pagan saints in middle earth. the cormarë series has over forty volumes in tolkien alone!
the lord of the rings 1954 – 2004: scholarship in honor of richard e. welderblack. Editing Wayne G. Hammond & cristina scull. marquette university press, marquette, 2006.
j.r.r. tolkien centenary lecture: keble college, oxford, 1992. Editing Patricia Reynolds & glen good gentleman. the society tolkien & the mythopoeic society, milton keynes & Altadena, 1995.
tolkien 2005: the ring continues, celebrating 50 years of the lord of the rings. sarah wells edition the tolkien society, coventry, 2008.
tolkien’s research diary. eds. bradford lee eden, douglas. a. Anderson, Dimitra Fimi, John R. Holmes, John W. Houghton, Robin Reid, Kristine Larsen, Helen Young, Christopher T. vaccaro, andrew higgins, and carl hostetter as of 2015. an open access journal offering free tolkien scholarship to all. the journal offers book reviews, (peer-reviewed) articles, and conference papers. (note: some of the essays in these volumes are very academic, while others are easy to read).
tolkien society youtube channel. We upload talks, panels, and papers from a variety of Tolkien Society events (seminar, annual dinner, general meeting, conferences) to share and promote Tolkien’s work.
parma endalamberon. ‘the book of elvish languages’ is a diary of the elvish language community that is dedicated to elvish languages in tolkien’s legendarium.
mythlore. the peer-reviewed journal of the mythopoetic society that focuses on the works of insight.
other studies
blackwell is a partner of j. r. r. tolkien ed. Stuart Lee John Wiley & sons, chichester. 2014.
tolkien and otherness. ed. Christopher Vaccaro & yvette kisor. palgrave macmillan, basingstoke. 2017.
The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power. jane opportunity kentucky university press. lexington. 2001.
tolkien’s art: a mythology for england. jane opportunity kentucky university press, lexington. 2001.
j.r.r. tolkien and the literary resonances of him . george clark edition & Daniel Timmons Green Wood Press, Westport. 2000.
tolkien, race and cultural history: from fairies to hobbits. dimitra fimi. palgrave macmillan, basingstoke. 2008.
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tolkien and the study of his sources: critical essays. jason fisherman mcfarland edition 2010.
Splintered Light: Logos and Languages in Tolkien’s World. verlyn flieger. eerdmans, grand rapids, michigan. 1983.
a matter of time: j.r.r. tolkien’s road to faërie. verlyn flieger. kent state university press, kent, ohio. 1997.
tolkien’s legendary. Verlyn Flieger & Carl Hostetter. green wood press, westport. 2001.
interrupted music: the creation of tolkien’s mythology. verlyn flieger. kent state university press, kent & London. 2005.
green suns and faërie: essays on j.r.r. tolkien. verlyn flieger. kent state university press, kent & London. 2012.
There Will Always Be a Fairy Tale: Essays on Tolkien’s Middle Earth. verlyn flieger. kent state university press, kent & London. 2017.
j.r.r. tolkien: a descriptive bibliography. Wayne G. Hammond & douglas a. St Paul’s Anderson Bibliographies, Winchester. 1993.
j.r.r. tolkien’s companion and guide (2-volume chronology and guide). Wayne Hammond & cristina scull. harpercollins, london. 2017.
the song of middle earth: j.r.r. themes, symbols and myths of tolkien. david harvey allen and unwin, london. 1981.
tolkien’s world. randel helmets Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1974; paperback panther (myth, magic and meaning in tolkien’s world). 1976.
tolkien and the silmarils. randel helmets thames and hudson, london. 1981.
tolkien and welsh: tolkien to chymraeg. mark t. bitch. llyfrawr. 2012.
tolkien and criticism. editing neil d. isaacs & rose to zimbardo. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dames and London Press. 1968.
tolkien: new critical perspectives. editing neil d. isaacs & rose to zimbardo. university of kentucky 1981.
tolkien and the silmarillion. clyde s. Kilby Harold Shaw, Wheaton, Illinois, 1976; Lion Publishing, Berkhamstead. hert. 1977.
master of middle earth: the fiction of j.r.r. tolkien. Paul H. Kocher Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1972; Thames and Hudson, London, 1973; penguin. 1974.
the keys to middle earth: discovering medieval literature through the fiction of j.r.r. tolkien. stuart d. read & elizabeth solopova. palgrave macmillan, basingstoke. 2015.
england and always: the world of tolkien’s rings. jared lobdell. eerdmans, grand rapids, michigan. 1981.
tolkien and wales: language, literature and identity. Carl Phelpstead. wales university press, cardiff. 2011.
j.r.r. tolkien: myth, morality and religion. richard l. purtillar harper & row, san francisco. 1984.
the individualized hobbit: jung, tolkien and the archetypes of middle earth. Timothy R. o’neill houghton mifflin, boston, 1979; thames and hudson, london. 1979.
the story of the hobbit (2 vols). john rateliff. harpercollins, london. 2007.
romantic religion: a study of barfield, lewis, williams and tolkien. Robert J. Reilly Press of the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. 1971.
tolkien: a cultural phenomenon. brian rosebury. palgrave macmillian, 2003 (replacing his tolkien: a critical appraisal. brian rosebury. macmillan/st. martin’s press, london. 1992).
the formation of the creator of middle earth. js ryan american tolkien society. 1992.
j.r.r. tolkien, scholar and storyteller: essays in memoriam. edition mary salu & Robert T. farrell cornell university press, ithica and london. 1979.
languages, myths and history: an introduction to the linguistic and literary background of j. r. r. tolkien fiction. elizabeth solopova. north landing books, new york. 2009.
round trip: j. r. r. tolkien and the origins of the hobbit. mark atherton. Yo. b. tauris, london. 2014.
tolkien library: an annotated checklist. oronzo cilia. luna press publishing, edinburgh. 2019.
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