‘Wisdom of the Shire’ is a ‘self-help’ book that highlights all sorts of connections between Tolkien’s sub-created world of Middle-earth and our own. In particular it uses examples from Tolkien’s writing to show how much we can learn from the hobbits - their bravery, loyalty, sense of fun, and an appreciation of the simple things in life.
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The Wisdom of the Shire
Filed under : BOOKS CONCERNING TOLKIEN > Self-help
Children’s Treasury of Literature
Filed under : TOLKIEN Miscellanea > General Fantasy / Literature
This collection of children’s stories includes the first chapter of The Hobbit - ‘An Unexpected Party’ illustrated by Robert J. Lee.
Tolkien himself famously described these illustrations as “vulgar, stupid and entirely out of keeping with the text”.
Very much a product of the times, the illustrations are indeed playful and a bit psychedelic. But personally I rather like Robert J. Lee’s pictures - and the fact that they have Dwalin the dwarf with an actual blue beard.
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The Hobbit Visual Companion
Filed under : BOOKS CONCERNING TOLKIEN > Movie related
Visual companion to Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
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The Hobbit Official Movie Guide
Filed under : BOOKS CONCERNING TOLKIEN > Movie related
Another great movie guide by Brian Sibley and right up there with his Lord of the Rings movie books.
I searched (briefly) to see if this book was available as a Limited Edition Collector’s Hardback, like the ‘Rings’ guides, but couldn’t seem to find any mention of a hardback version anywhere.
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Hobbitus Ille
At last - The Hobbit in Latin!
This is a great book for Tolkien fans, including those (like me) who are curious to see just how much remains from their O-Level days! I’m sure it would also be a fantastic resource for anyone studying Latin especially Latin verse, as Mark Walker has paid special attention to transforming Tolkien’s poetry into ‘a variety of classical and rhythmic Latin metres’. There is a short appendix concerning Poetical Metres.
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The Hobbit Annual 2013
Filed under : BOOKS CONCERNING TOLKIEN > Movie related
My first item of Hobbit movie merchandise - a 60+ page annual for kids with puzzles and games.
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The Hobbit (Pocket edition)
A lovely (and smaller) version of the classic hardback edition of The Hobbit to celebrate the 75th anniversary of publication.
It’s not exactly tiny, so if you do want to put it in your pocket, you may need special trousers.
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An Hobad
This is the first Irish edition of the Hobbit published in 2012. It includes the full text translated into Irish, and all of Tolkien’s maps and pictures. An especially nice job has been done rendering all the maps and text on the the illustrations as gaeilge
The book begins like this :
I bpoll sa talamh a bhí cónaí ar hobad. Níor pholl gránna, salach, fliuch é, lán le giotaí de phéisteanna agus le boladh láibe. Níor pholl tirim, lom, gainmheach a bhí ann ach an oiread, gan aon rud ann le n-ithe ná le suí síos air; poll hobaid ab ea é agus is ionann sin agus compared.
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The Hobbit (in 2 Parts)
A new paperback edition of The Hobbit which came out in 2012 presumably to tie in with the release of the first of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies. At the time of publication, the 2012 Hobbit movie was to be the first of a 2-part adaptation.
But soon afterwards it was revealed that the Hobbit movie was going to be in three parts - which makes this particular 2-part edition a bit of a strange curiosity…
I don’t know if a 3-part edition is planned, but I imagine it would make for some pretty flimsy individual volumes.
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A Tolkien Tapestry
Filed under : BOOKS CONCERNING TOLKIEN > Art / Pictures
A wonderful art book featuring the extraordinary LotR-inspired paintings by the Dutch artist Cor Blok.
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