The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien’s works of epic adventure and fantasy, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion have delighted many millions of fans since they were first published, and are now more than popular than ever.

Middle-Earth, the world in which the stories take place, is as real and as complex as our own. Events, geography and names were created with care and loving attention by Professor Tolkien, who wanted every single detail of his books to fit into their total pattern. A belief in perfection, the joy of the sub-creation and the desire to create something so totally convincing that the reader could believe in it – in a sense – as actual history, involved him in map-making, compiling endless charts of dates and events and the development of his many invented languages.

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth has been compiled to enhance the reader’s enjoyment of Tolkien’s books by bringing together in an A-Z sequence all the key facts and information about names, places, languages and events from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Coupled with numerous genealogical tables and a unique Chronology of the First Age, it will provide an indispensable aid to every reader’s discovery of Tolkien’s world.

The first, and definitive, encyclopedia, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth has now been updated so that readers can locate the entries in the very latest hardback and paperback editions of the book. It has also been sumptuously illustrated with 50 full-colour paintings by acclaimed Tolkien artist, Ted Nasmith, many new works appearing in book form for the very first time.

Robert Foster was Assistant Professor of English at Rutgers College, New Jersey. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he received his MA and Ph.D in English and Medieval Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a consultant to the Tolkien Society of America and his Guide to Middle-earth, published in 1971, resulted from his work of tracing the etymology of names used in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Ted Nasmith has had a passionate interest in Tolkien since about 1970, even before he embarked on a career as an illustrator, having first read The Lord of the Rings as a young art student. It would be several years after he began making drawings and paintings from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, however, before it would become the artistic mainstay it is currently. Tolkien has emerged as the predominant influence. With dozens of high realism gouache scenes painted over some 30 years, he has gained a worldwide reputation in the genre. His work has been published in several Tolkien calendars since 1987, but also in other forms; the acclaimed illustrated edition of The Silmarillion being a particular honour.