The History of Middle-earth (Boxed Set 1): The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, Part One & Part Two: Book 1

The History of Middle-earth (Boxed Set 1) is the first in a series of hardback boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, presented with double-sided dustjackets. This set brings together four special editions, published together for the first time, and reproduces the first edition text for two of the included volumes.

Set 1 contains The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, alongside the two volumes of The Book of Lost Tales. Together, these books collect the beginning of Christopher Tolkien’s forty-year career devoted to presenting his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on Middle-earth.

Included titles

• The Silmarillion
• Unfinished Tales
• The Book of Lost Tales, Part One
• The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

Key details

• Hardback boxed set with double-sided dustjackets
• First in a series celebrating Christopher Tolkien’s literary achievement
• Set includes four books
• Special editions of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales reproduce the first edition text
• Published together for the first time

Synopses

The Silmarillion

An account of the Elder Days and the First Age of Tolkien’s world, looking back to an ancient drama referenced in The Lord of the Rings. Its tales are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Unfinished Tales

A collection of narratives ranging from the Elder Days of Middle-earth and the rise of Númenor in the Second Age to the end of the War of the Ring. It provides readers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with additional background and new stories.

The Book of Lost Tales, Part One

Placed at the beginning of the conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, these tales represent the first form of the myths and legends later called The Silmarillion. Embedded in English legend and association, they are set within a narrative frame of a westward voyage by a mariner named Eriol to the Isle where the Elves dwelt, from whom he learned their history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse.

The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

Across the two volumes are the earliest accounts of Gods and Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; and of the geography and cosmology of Tolkien’s invented world.