Houghton Mifflin, the American publisher of Tolkien, has several new Tolkien publications scheduled for Fall 1999. First up are new trade paperback editions of The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. All will have Alan Lee covers, and The Lord of the Rings will have the most recent corrected text. They are scheduled for September.

A special boxed set of The Lord of the Rings, called "The Millennium Edition," will appear in October. This set will be packaged in a new way, with the six "books" of The Lord of the Rings (remember that each volume of The Lord of the Rings is comprised of two books) each bound separately, and the Appendices bound as a seventh book. These seven hardcover volumes in an attractive slipcase will cost $70.00.

For myself, I’m most looking forward to the two November titles. First there is a "revised and expanded" edition of The Father Christmas Letters, which was first published in 1976. This new edition, confusingly titled Letters from Father Christmas (which was itself the title of last years tiny stocking stuffer of a book) is supposed to contain some letters that were left out of the earlier edition. These stories of Father Christmas’s life at the North Pole, with the mischievous Polar Bear and the elf Ilbereth, are illustrated by Tolkien himself, and are absolutely delightful.

Also for November will be a special fiftieth anniversary edition of Farmer Giles of Ham, edited and with annotations by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. This edition will publish for the first time Tolkien’s notes for a sequel to Farmer Giles, and Tolkien’s earliest manuscript version of the book itself, along with a facsimile of the first edition (including all of the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes). Add to that a scholarly introduction and notes by the editors, and a brand new map for the book drawn by Pauline Baynes, the original illustrator. This sounds like the biggest Tolkien-treat of the season.

Last, there will be another mini-book, a sort of three inch square stocking-stuffer, of Poems from The Hobbit. This will be in the same format as the Letters from Father Christmas Letters published last year. It will cost $5.95.

This wraps up the Tolkien-related Fall list from Houghton Mifflin. For Spring 2000, two Tolkienien books are planned, and both are scheduled for May. The first is the first trade paperback US edition of The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, selected and edited by Humphrey Carpenter, with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien. This volume was originally published in hardcover in 1981, and it is a delight. In one place Tolkien explicates his ideas on The Silmarillion to a potential publisher in 1951, while in another place he tells the hobbit-lore of Lalia the Great (who was less courteously known as the Fat), and in another place he explicates on the religious significance of The Lord of the Rings. This book is filled with fascinating tidbits. This new edition will also have an extensive new and expanded index to the book, compiled by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.

The second book scheduled for May 2000 is a re-jacketed trade paperback of Humphrey Carpenter’s excellent authorized biography of Tolkien.

Check out the Tolkien section of Houghton Mifflin’s website, recently revamped. It can be found at www.lordoftheringstrilogy.com

From HarperCollins in the US there will appear in October a pop-up version of The Hobbit, priced at $19.95. It is based on illustrations by John Howe.

Scheduled for January 2000, Greenwood Press will be publishing a scholarly collection of essays entitled Tolkien’s Legendarium: Essays on the History of Middle-earth, edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter ($59.95, ISBN 0-313-30530-7). Flieger has published two scholarly books on Tolkien, the most recent of which, A Question of Time: J. R. R Tolkien’s Road to Faerie (1997), won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award from the Mythopoeic Society. Carl F. Hostetter edits Vinyar Tengwar, the Journal of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, a Special Interest Group of the Mythopoeic Society. Tolkien’s Legendarium will include pieces by Rayner Unwin, Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond, the editors, and others. For a full listing of the contents of this volume, and order information, check out the details at Greenwood Press: http://info.greenwood.com/books/0313305/0313305307.html

Check out Verlyn Flieger’s webpage and see Carl F. Hostetter’s webpage at www.elvish.org/VT/

turgon@theonering.net