Book Description
Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Nearly 100 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors’ editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. Now, the epic fantasy has been filmed, with the first part of the movie trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring (released simultaneously worldwide on 14 Dec 2001) receiving tremendous acclaim. The next two years will see the following two parts of this epic fantasy tale unleashed onto the silver screen – no doubt to even greater praise from the critics and public alike. Already, the hype surrounding the filming of this monumental work has reached fever pitch, and images of the characters and landscape, featured in each part of the trilogy, have become eagerly sought after. In order to whet the appetites of the millions of fans around the globe we will be publishing a special edition of the popular one-volume paperback, featuring an exclusive early – as yet unseen – image from the second film. A world exclusive edition of the Book of the Century, soon to be revealed as the movie experience of a lifetime.
About the Author
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on the 3rd January, 1892 at Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, but at the age of four he and his brother were taken back to England by their mother. After his father’s death the family moved to Sarehole, on the south-eastern edge of Birmingham. Tolkien spent a happy childhood in the countryside and his sensibility to the rural landscape can clearly be seen in his writing and his pictures.
His mother died when he was only twelve and both he and his brother were made wards of the local priest and sent to King Edward’s School, Birmingham, where Tolkien shone in his classical work. After completing a First in English Language and Literature at Oxford, Tolkien married Edith Bratt. He was also commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the battle of the Somme. After the war, he obtained a post on the ‘New English Dictionary’ and began to write the mythological and legendary cycle which he originally called ‘The Book of Lost Tales’ but which eventually became known as ‘The Silmarillion’.
In 1920 Tolkien was appointed Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds which was the beginning of a distinguished academic career culminating with his election as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Meanwhile Tolkien wrote for his children and told them the story of ‘The Hobbit’. It was his publisher, Stanley Unwin, who asked for a sequel to ‘The Hobbit’ and gradually Tolkien wrote ‘The Lord of the Rings’, a huge story that took twelve years to complete and which was not published until Tolkien was approaching retirement. After retirement Tolkien and his wife lived near Oxford, but then moved to Bournemouth. Tolkien returned to Oxford after his wife’s death in 1971. He died on 2 September 1973 leaving ‘The Silmarillion’ to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.
