The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One

Tolkien, J R R.

ISBN 10: 0395498635 / ISBN 13: 9780395498637

Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1989

About this Item

First Edition, Sixth Printing. Not price-clipped ($29.95 price intact). Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Octavo. Hardcover. Book is like new. Dust jacket is like new. An excellent copy of the 6th book in Christopher Tolkien s History of Middle Earth series. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.

Seller Inventory # 195887

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395498635
• ISBN 13: 9780395498637
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Like New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Like New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science-Fiction & Fantasy

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.