The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, The History of Middle-Earth, Part 1, Vol. 6

Tolkien, J. R. R.; Tolkien, Christopher

ISBN 10: 0395498635 / ISBN 13: 9780395498637

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1988

About this Item

Houghton Mifflin Co. New York, 1988, Hardcover First US Edition/First Printing with a complete number line. Book looks Fine/Near New: it is tight and unread but has a water stain on the rear board and resultant mark on the dust jacket - see photos - issues are hidden - also a bit of very faint dustiness on the top text block. Dust jacket is Near Fine minus, with above mentioned issue and also a very small wobble on the rear of the jacket, where the issue is and some very faint pale orange toning - from what I don't know - the rear board is clean other than the issue mentioned. A very attractive tight copy overall, with issues listed as Good - dust jacket comes in a removable, archival mylar sleeve.

Seller Inventory # 002992

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, The History of Middle-Earth, Part 1, Vol. 6
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395498635
• ISBN 13: 9780395498637
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

In this sixth volume of The History of Middle-earth the story reaches The Lord of the Rings. In The Return of the Shadow (an abandoned title for the first volume) Christopher Tolkien describes, with full citation of the earliest notes, outline plans, and narrative drafts, the intricate evolution of The Fellowship of the Ring and the gradual emergence of the conceptions that transformed what J.R.R. Tolkien for long believed would be a far shorter book, 'a sequel to The Hobbit'. The enlargement of Bilbo's 'magic ring' into the supremely potent and dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord is traced and the precise moment is seen when, in an astonishing and unforeseen leap in the earliest narrative, a Black Rider first rode into the Shire, his significance still unknown. The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed while his indentity remains an absolute puzzle, and the suspicion only very slowly becomes certainty that he must after all be a Man. The hobbits, Frodo's companions, undergo intricate permutations of name and personality, and other major figures appear in strange modes: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, a ferocious and malevolent Farmer Maggot.

The story in this book ends at the point where J.R.R. Tolkien halted in the story for a long time, as the Company of the Ring, still lacking Legolas and Gimli, stood before the tomb of Balin in the Mines of Moria. The Return of the Shadow is illustrated with reproductions of the first maps and notable pages from the earliest manuscripts.

About the Author

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892. After serving in the First World War, he embarked upon a distinguished career as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. He is the renowned creator of Middle-earth and author of the great modern classic, The Hobbit, the prelude to his epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Other works by J.R.R. Tolkien include The Silmarillion. J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973 at the age of 81.

Christopher Tolkien, who formerly taught at Oxford University, is J.R.R. Tolkien's son and literary executor. The editor of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales as well as the twelve-part series The History of Middle-earth, he lives in France.