The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
From Tolkien Gateway
The Lord fo the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull is considered one of the greatest recent secondary works about Tolkien's world. The book contains rare Tolkien-related extracts, poems, letters, manuscripts, interviews, as well as brand new material.
- ISBN 0618642676
- Format: Hardcover with dustjacket, 894pp
- Publication Date: December 2005
- Publisher: HarperCollins (UK) & Houghton Mifflin (US)
Contents
- Notes on significant changes made by the author and by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death
- A newly transcribed version of The Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings. Another version of this was published as Guide to Names in The Lord of the Rings in A Tolkien Compass (1975).
- Part of Tolkien’s 1951 letter to Milton Waldman, previously unpublished in the UK.
- A reproduction of a manuscript page showing a a synoptic time scheme used while writing The Lord of the Rings. It summarizes the movements of characters between the 8th and the 12th of March.
- Brief references to illustrations, maps, and earlier versions of the text
- References to people, places, and events that appear in other books by Tolkien
- Explanations of archaic and unusual words
- Translations and primers on how to use Tolkien's invented languages
