The Return of the Shadow, The History Of The Lord Of The Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth volume 6)

Tolkien, J. R. R.; Tolkien, Christopher (editor)

ISBN 10: 0044401620 / ISBN 13: 9780044401629

Published by Unwin Hyman, London, 1988

About this Item

First UK edition. Octavo. 497 pp. Near fine in like jacket. Black cloth. This is volume 6 in The History of Middle-Earth series edited by Christoper Tolkien. Bright and clean throughout with no markings or annotations. There is a bookplate to the front pastedown (but this bookplate has been left empty, and awaits a future owner's name if desired). Smart, unclipped jacket bearing original price of 17.95 British Pounds. Jacket is now protected in an archival grade Brodart wrap. A tight and attractive copy. Securely shipped in a box.

Seller Inventory # 015210

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Return of the Shadow, The History Of The Lord Of The Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth volume 6)
• Publisher: Unwin Hyman, London
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0044401620
• ISBN 13: 9780044401629
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

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 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

CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. Appointed by Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself to the editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892–1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.