Houghton Mifflin has a lot to interest Tolkien fans coming out this fall. First of all, just appearing in stores is a new edition of The Hobbit with a cover by the acclaimed artist Peter Sís.

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This very classy looking paperback is priced at $10.00 (ISBN 0-618-15082-X), and should be a great way to get the attention of Harry Potter fans and hook them on Tolkien. A hardcover version, slightly larger than the paperback, is also available for $18.00 (ISBN 0-618-16221-6).

In September Houghton Mifflin will be releasing new hardcover and new trade paper editions of the three volume of The Lord of the Rings, all with movie tie-in covers. And the three volumes will be available as boxed sets as well.

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The paperbacks are priced at $12.00 each (The Fellowship of the Ring, ISBN 0-618-12903-0; The Two Towers, ISBN 0-618-12908-1; The Return of the King, ISBN 0-618-12911-1); the hardcovers are priced at $22.00 each (The Fellowship of the Ring, ISBN 0-618-15398-5; The Two Towers, ISBN 0-618-15399-3; The Return of the King, ISBN 0-618-15400-0). The boxed sets will be priced $35.00 in paperback (ISBN 0-618-15396-9) and $65.00 in hardcover (0-618-15397-7).

Also in September there will be a re-issue of Unfinished Tales, with a cover by Ted Nasmith ("Túrin and his Band are led to Amon Rûdh" from the edition of The Silmarillion illustrated by Nasmith). This edition will be published in paperback at $18.00 (ISBN 0-618-15405-1), and in hardcover at $26.00 (ISBN 0-618-15404-3).

Of course for those drooling in anticipation of the Peter Jackson films, the most exciting books on the Houghton Mifflin list will be The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion by Jude Fisher, and The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide by Brian Sibley. These are both due to appear in stores simultaneously, with an official national laydown date of November 6th. So mark your calendars. The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion is a hardcover priced at $19.95 (ISBN 0-618-15401-9), while The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide will be available both as a $14.95 paperback (ISBN 0-618-15403-5) and a $24.95 hardcover (ISBN 0-618-15402-7). Click here to see the sampler from The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide: [Official Movie Guide Images]

From other publishers, Ballantine Books will also be putting new covers on their mass market editions of The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. Look for these in November ($6.99 each).

Caedmon Audio will be issuing in September The J. R. R. Tolkien Audio Collection, a 3 CD collection of previously released recordings by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. This is the first time that these recordings have been available on CDs. Price $25.00; ISBN 0-694-52570-7.

Turning to books about Tolkien, one of the most interesting looks to be Meditations on Middle-earth, edited by Karen Haber, due out in November from St. Martin’s Press. We’ve been previewing some of the essays from this book in our Tributes section at Green Books. [ Tributes Section ] The line-up of contributors is very impressive, including Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Pratchett, Karen Haber, Diane Duane, Charles de Lint, George R. R. Martin, Esther Friesner, Gene Wolfe, Robin Hobb, Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Poul Anderson, Lisa Goldstein, Harry Turtledove, Michael Swanwick, and Karen Haber. There is also a memoir of Tolkien by George Sayer, an essay by Tolkienist Douglas A. Anderson, and an interview with Walter Hooper, the C. S. Lewis expert. And to top it all off, there are new color illustrations by John Howe. Price $24.95; ISBN 0-312-27536-6.

The previously-announced book by Michael N. Stanton, Hobbits, Elves and Wizards: The Wonders and Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, is now re-scheduled for December. Price $19.95; ISBN 0-312-23826-6.

Also David Day’s Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia will be re-issued by Fireside Press in December. Price $25.00; ISBN 0-684-83979-2.

And the anthology After the King: Stories in Honor of J. R. R. Tolkien, originally compiled by Martin H. Greenberg for Tolkien’s Centenary in 1992, will be re-issued in trade paperback by Tor Books. Contributors include Stephen R. Donaldson, Terry Pratchett, Robert Silverberg, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Poul and Karen Anderson, John Brunner, Patricia A. McKillip, Harry Turtledove, Andre Norton, Charles de Lint, Dennis L. McKienran, Emma Bull, Karen Haber, Peter S. Beagle, Mike Resnick, Jane Yolen, Barry N. Malzberg, Gregory Benford, and Judith Tarr.

On the scholarly book side, Verlyn Flieger’s 1997 book A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Road to ‘Faërie’, was issued in paperback by Kent State University Press this summer. Price $18.00; ISBN 0-87338-699-X.

The University of Kentucky Press will be re-issuing two books on Tolkien by Jane Chance. The first will be Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power, due out in October. Price $19.95; ISBN 0-8131-9017-7. The second, coming in November, will be Tolkien’s Art: A Mythology for England. Price $19.95; ISBN 0-8131-9020-7. Both are to be revised editions.

And the book mentioned in the last round-up, Women among the Inklings: Gender, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams, by Candice Fredrick and Sam McBride, is still to come from Greenwood Press. Price $59.00; ISBN 0-313-31245-1. It’s now scheduled for November.

On the fringe, there is a re-issue of Terry Donaldson’s The Lord of the Rings Oracle, which is described as a "mystical pack with Middle-earth cards, map, and ring for divination and revelation." It is available as a hardcover gift set, priced at $24.95; ISBN 0-8069-2053-X.

Ibooks will be publishing in December something described as "a loving parody of Tolkien," in which a trucker takes the wrong exit from the New Jersey turnpike and ends up in Middle-earth, flattening anything in his path, including hobbits. The book is called The Roadkill of Middle-earth, and it’s by John Carnell. Price $12.95; ISBN 0-7434-3467-6. It doesn’t sound much like a loving parody to me, but at least it’s not a cookbook.

Prentice Hall Press lists a schmoozy business book, The Twelve Rings of Leadership: Classic Lessons from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, by Joe Tye. It was scheduled for August, and is still listed at Amazon, though rumor has it that it has been cancelled. (I cross my fingers at the thought! Who wants to see Tolkien’s works dragged through the muck of modern corporate-think?)

News from England is a bit scanty this time. From what I know so far, a paperback edition of Tom Shippey’s J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century is planned for August (£7.99) There is a Silmarillion Gift Pack (including the book, a CD, and a map) planned for September (£24.99) , along with a Silmarillion CD Gift Set (a reading of the book by Martin Shaw), also planned for September (£59.95). In October comes a book of art by John Howe, Myth and Magic, as well as a Myth and Magic Poster Collection. And in December there will be a one-volume movie tie-in edition of The Lord of the Rings.

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--Turgon