The New Tolkien Companion

Hobbit History The New Tolkien Companion, by J.E.A. Tyler, Avon Books, 1980 Of all the thousands of readers who have immensely enjoyed J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings", it is surprising that very few indeed realize that this unparalleled work is not a work of fiction. Even though Tolkien himself admitted (in his Prologue to the Ring) that this was "historical narrative", the result of his lifetime of work in the translation of various documents of Middle Earth, dating back to the end of the Third Age, there still remained widespread skepticism. The long awaited publication of "The Silmarillion" should have permanently laid to rest all question of the authenticity of the documents involved. This much more ancient volume provided considerable insight into the background and history of the "Ring" and "The Hobbit". Yet, human nature being what it is, skepticism is still rife, and many still attribute this recounting of the First Age of Middle Earth to fantasy and invention, little realizing that the task Tolkien undertook in the translations from the ancient tongues life no time at all for invention or fictionalizing. Indeed, the very nature of the tale in all its fantastic complexities should be evidence enough that no mere mortal could have invented or imagined such a series of events. Hopefully, "The New Tolkien Companion" will finally and for all time abolish this obviously nonsensical and iconoclastic attitude. The task of J.E.A. Tyler was monumental in itself. No sooner has his "Tolkien Companion" been finished and printed, providing an encyclopedic compilation of data, places, races, people and events, than the publication of "The Silmarillion" rendered it practically obsolete! Thus, "The NEW Tolkien Companion" became a necessity. His new work takes the reader through some 10,000 years of Hobbit history and origins, providing a complete listing of foreign words, Elvish writings, maps, charts, and myriad cross-references. A gigantic undertaking, to be sure, but the genius of Tolkien demands no less. And no reader who has traveled through this ancient land should be without this companion. N. Kent Goldsmith

It is an extensive dictionary/encyclopida of Tolkien's works. I found it very interesting.