A Tolkien Bestiary

From Tolkien Gateway
A Tolkien Bestiary
A Tolkien Bestiary.jpg
AuthorDavid Day
PublisherMitchell Beazley
Released1979
FormatHardback
Paperback
Pages288
ISBN0517120771

A Tolkien Bestiary is an A-Z guide to the flora and fauna of Middle-earth, written by David Day and first published in 1979. The book contains monochrome and full-colour illustrations by Michael Foreman, Lidia Postma, Ian Miller, Allan Curless, Sue Porter, Victor Ambrus and John Davis.

Reception[edit | edit source]

The book has been accused of containing extrapolations and thus deviating from Tolkien's writings.[1] For example, there is a reference to "Kraken" referring to the Watcher in the Water, but the word does not appear as a species in Tolkien's works.[2]

While fans have argued that the book is less reliable as a Tolkien reference than similar works by Robert Foster and J.E.A. Tyler, many are fond of its illustrations.[3]

Editions[edit | edit source]

A number of books have been derived from A Tolkien Bestiary and have been published under many different titles:

References