Editing The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

Warning: You are not logged in.

Your IP address will be recorded in this page's edit history.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.

{{disambig-two|the poetry collection titled ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil''|poem by the same name|[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (poem)]]}}
{{book
| title=The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book
| image=[[Image:The Adventures of Tom Bombadil cover.jpg|225px]]
| author=[[J.R.R. Tolkien]]
| publisher=[[Allen and Unwin|George Allen and Unwin]] (UK)<br/>[[Houghton Mifflin]] (US)
| date=[[22 November]] [[1962]] (UK)<br/>[[1963]]
| format=Hardback in dustwrapper
| pages=63
| noisbn=None
}}
''''' The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book''''' is a collection of poetry by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], published in 1962.  The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with [[Tom Bombadil]], a character who is most famous for his encounter with [[Frodo Baggins]] in ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', the first volume in Tolkien's best-selling ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.  The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme.

The book was originally illustrated by [[Pauline Baynes]] and later by [[Roger Garland]].

The book, like the first edition of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', is presented as if it is an actual translation from the [[Red Book of Westmarch]], and contains some background information on the world of [[Middle-earth]] which is not found elsewhere. Examples are the name of the [[Tirith Aear|tower]] at [[Dol Amroth]] and the names of the [[Rivers of Gondor|Seven Rivers of Gondor]]. There is some dispute about its canonical status since the information presented about the secondary world is considered only as folklore among the [[Hobbits]].

==Contents==
*Preface
#[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (poem)|The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]
#[[Bombadil Goes Boating]]
#[[Errantry]]
#[[Little Princess Mee]]
#[[The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late]]
#[[The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon]]
#[[The Stone Troll]]
#[[Perry-the-Winkle]]
#[[The Mewlips]]
#[[Oliphaunt (poem)|Oliphaunt]]
#[[Fastitocalon (poem)|Fastitocalon]]
#[[Cat (poem)|Cat]]
#[[Shadow-Bride]]
#[[The Hoard]]
#[[The Sea-Bell]]
#[[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.

Some of the proposed poems that were finally omitted were ''[[Kortirion among the Trees]]'' and ''[[The Dragon's Visit]]''; ''[[You and Me / and the Cottage of Lost Play|You & Me]]'' was also possibly revisited during that process.

==Development==
[[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s aunt [[Jane Neave]] enjoyed the figure of [[Tom Bombadil]] and asked him if he could make a book out of him that would make an affordable [[Christmas]] present. Tolkien didn't feel that anything more could be told about Tom, but considered his earler poem about him, that would be made into an illustrated booklet,<ref group=note>''[[Bilbo's Last Song]]'' was published years later in such a format.</ref> thinking about [[Pauline Baynes]]. [[Rayner Unwin]] suggested to him to collect more poems with it so as to be a more publishable book, and Tolkien researched some older, half-forgotten poems the value of which he doubted<ref name=chron>{{CG|C}}</ref><ref>{{L|233}}</ref> but as he wrote to his aunt, he enjoyed rediscovering and rubbing them up<ref>{{L|234}}</ref> and took a lot of work to re-write them.

Tolkien thought (and Baynes agreed) that the poems didn't fit together as a collection.<ref name=chron/> Tolkien worked a lot to make them fit with each other and into [[Hobbit]]-lore; he decided including a Foreword that would make this connection, and wrote [[Bombadil Goes Boating|a second poem with Tom]] in order to fit him better into the world of [[the Shire]] and Hobbits.<ref>{{L|237}}</ref>
===Illustration===
While Tolkien considered ''The Adventures'' poem very pictorial, Baynes rather suggested that his poems were rather "felt", but Tolkien insisted  that his images, although fantastical and nonsensical, were definite, clear and precise.<ref>{{L|235}}</ref> Tolkien's main instruction to Baynes was that the ilustrations shouldn't be comical as even the more lighthearted poems had a serious undercurrent.

Baynes began working on the book in June 1962, collaborating with art editor Ronald Eames. She was asked for five illustrations but completed six by August and were all printed. Tolkien had criticised her illustration of ''[[The Hoard]]'' which he opted to be omitted (eventually Baynes made a new version for ''[[Poems and Stories]]'' according to his criticism). Tolkien also disagreed with the cover and its lettering but it was too late for a change.

The illustrations for ''Cat'' and ''Fastitocalon'' were messed up, and in the following reprints the order of the poems was reversed and the art adjusted.

In the end Tolkien credited for a large part Baynes for the commercial success of the book.

==Expanded edition==
In 2014 was published an expanded edition of ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book'', edited by [[Wayne G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull]]. The new edition includes earlier versions of several poems and the related poem ''[[Once upon a Time]]''. It also contains the formerly unpublished "predecessor of ''Perry-the-Winkle'', called ''[[The Bumpus]]'', and the complete, tantalizingly brief fragment of a prose story featuring Tom Bombadil, in the days of 'King Bonhedig'". In addition, the editors provide a new introduction and a commentary on the text.<ref>{{webcite|author=[[Wayne G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull]]|articleurl=http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/new-tolkien-projects-part-one/|articlename=New Tolkien Projects, Part One|dated=15 January 2014|website=[http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/ Wayneandchristina.wordpress.com]|accessed=19 January 2014}}</ref>

==Audio performances==
*[[1952 tape recording]]
*''[[Poems and Songs of Middle Earth]]''
*''[[Tales_from_the_Perilous_Realm_(1992_radio_series)|Tales from the Perilous Realm]]''
*''[[The J.R.R. Tolkien Audio Collection]]''

==External links==
*[http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/15th-december-1962/15/from-an-antique-land-the-adventures-of-tom-bombadi ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'' review] at thetablet.co.uk
*[http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/booksbytolkien/adventuresoftb/description.htm Review] at Tolkienlibrary.com

{{references}}
{{perilousrealm}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Tom Bombadil}}
{{title|italics}}
[[Category:The Adventures of Tom Bombadil| ]]
[[Category:Books by J.R.R. Tolkien]]
[[Category:Poetry books]]
[[Category:Publications by title]]
[[de:Die Abenteuer des Tom Bombadil]]
[[fr:tolkien/biblio/atb]]
[[fi:The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from the Red Book]]

Please note that all contributions to Tolkien Gateway are considered to be released under the GNU Free Documentation License (see Tolkien Gateway:Copyrights for details). If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

Summary:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Insert: Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú Ý ý À à È è Ì ì Ò ò Ù ù Ỳ ỳ Â â Ê ê Î î Ô ô Û û Ŷ ŷ Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ü ü Ÿ ÿ Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū Ȳ ȳ Ă ă Ĕ ĕ Ĭ ĭ Ŏ ŏ Ŭ ŭ Ȃ ȃ Ȇ ȇ Ȋ ȋ Ȏ ȏ Ȗ ȗ Ã ã Ẽ ẽ Ĩ ĩ Ñ ñ Õ õ Ũ ũ Ṽ ṽ Ỹ ỹ Ŋ ŋ Æ æ Ǽ ǽ Ǣ ǣ Œ œ Å å Ø ø ſ ʃ Ð ð Þ þ Ƿ ƿ Ʒ ʒ Ȝ ȝ Ɔ ɔ Ę ę ɛ̃ Ṽ ø̃ Š š £ € $ ¥ √ · • † – — ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › « » --~~~~

Templates used on this page:

Template:Book (edit)
Template:CG (edit)
Template:Disambig-two (edit)
Template:L (edit)
Template:Perilousrealm (edit)
Template:References (view source) (protected)
Template:T (edit)
Template:Title (view source) (protected)
Template:Webcite (edit)

Retrieved from "http://www.tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tom_Bombadil"

Search

Navigation

Toolbox

Personal tools

Editing The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 *[http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/15th-december-1962/15/from-an-antique-land-the-adventures-of-tom-bombadi ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'' review] at thetablet.co.uk
 *[http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/booksbytolkien/adventuresoftb/description.htm Review] at Tolkienlibrary.com
-*[http://www.hammondandscull.com/addenda/bombadil.html Addenda and Corrigenda to The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (2014)]
 {{references}}