''The History of Middle-earth'' is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse much of

Tolkien's legendarium Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...

, compiled and edited by his son,

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...

. The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

as a fictional place with its own peoples,

languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, and history, from his earliest notions of a "mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...

'' and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''. It is not a "

history of Middle-earth In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional unive ...

" in the sense of being a chronicle of events in Middle-earth written from an in-universe perspective; it is instead an out-of-universe history of Tolkien's creative process. In 2000, the twelve volumes were republished in three limited edition omnibus volumes. Non-deluxe editions of the three volumes were published in 2002.

Some of the content consists of earlier versions of already published works, while other portions are new material. These books are extremely detailed, often analysing a scrap of paper to provide the full evolution of two or even three different versions of a passage that were rewritten over each other. Despite the great amount of material in the twelve volumes, numerous unpublished texts are still known to exist in the

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

and

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

libraries, and in other papers held by individuals or organizations, such as the

Elvish Linguistic Fellowship The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society devoted to the study of the constructed languages of J. R. R. Tolkien, today headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded b ...

. The first five books track the early history of ''

'' and related texts. Books six to nine discuss the development of ''

''; book nine also discusses the

Númenor Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was the kingdom occupying a large island to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was the greatest civil ...

story in the form of ''

The Notion Club Papers ''The Notion Club Papers'' is an abandoned novel by J. R. R. Tolkien, written during 1945 and published posthumously in '' Sauron Defeated'', the 9th volume of ''The History of Middle-earth''. It is a time travel story, written while ''The Lord of ...

''. Books ten and eleven focus on material from the ''Silmarillion'' that Tolkien worked on after ''The Lord of the Rings'' was published, including the ''Annals of

Beleriand In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work ''The Silmarillion'', which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-e ...

'' and the ''

Annals of Aman ''Morgoth's Ring'' (1993) is the tenth volume of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series ''The History of Middle-earth'' in which he analyses the unpublished manuscripts of his father J. R. R. Tolkien. Book Overview This volume, along with ...

''. Book twelve discusses the development of the Appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'' and examines assorted writings from the last years of Tolkien's life. Christopher Tolkien made the decision not to include any material related to ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'' in ''The History of Middle-earth'' because it was not originally intended to form part of the mythology, but was a children's story and originally not set in Middle-earth, revised during the writing of ''

''. '' The History of The Hobbit'' was published separately, in two volumes, in 2007 and was edited by

John D. Rateliff John D. Rateliff is an author of roleplaying games and an independent scholar. He specializes in the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly his Middle-earth fantasy writings. Early life and education John D. Rateliff was raised in Ma ...

Volumes

A combined index was published six years after the series was completed as ''The History of Middle-earth: Index'' (2002). A shorter version of volume 9, omitting material not related to ''The Lord of the Rings'', was published as ''The End of the Third Age''; this is usually sold as a boxed set along with volumes 6, 7 and 8 as ''The History of the Lord of the Rings''.

References

External links

A detailed list of content in ''History of Middle-earth'' volumes and ''Unfinished Tales''
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Middle-earth, The Middle-earth books Collections of works by J. R. R. Tolkien Books about Middle-earth Series of books Books published posthumously Fictional history

Contents

Volumes

References

Further reading

External links