The Silmarillion: 30th Anniversary

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of first publication, a new de

luxe edition of The Silmarillion, featuring the revised, reset

text, a colour frontispiece illustration, bound in special

materials and presented in a matching slipcase. The Silmarillion is

an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world.

It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the

Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond

and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in

an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth,

and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the

Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is

a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers

of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the

downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the

Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at

the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings. For

the first time, we are publishing a deluxe edition of this pivotal

work, featuring the revised, corrected text and including, by way

of an introduction, a fascinating letter written by Tolkien in 1951

in which he gives a full explanation of how he conceived the early

Ages of Middle-earth. Quarter-bound, and set in a matching

slipcase, this attractive edition will prove a fine addition to any

Tolkien collection.