The Making of Middle-Earth: A New Look Inside The World of JRR Tolkien, Christopher Snyder, c. 2013

The Making of Middle-Earth: A New Look Inside The World of JRR Tolkien, Christopher Snyder, c. 2013. 823SNY.

From "the blog," March 24, 2025:

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The Book Page

I'm done with Shakespeare and Brenda James for awhile. I'll come back to both in a few months, but need to move on.

Tomorrow, I start the "Notes on the Text," "Note on the 50th Anniversary Edition," the "Foreword to the Second Edition," and the "Prologue: Concerning Hobbits and other matters" from the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Lord of the Rings.

At one time, J.R.R. Tolkien fascinated me (still does) but I've forgotten a lot. He was a philologist and a story teller of the old school. 

Over at Amazon, the book is currently selling for $24.49, at a 39% discount. Link here. And that's with free shipping and delivery by tomorrow.

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When I picked up the book for the first time in a long time -- this 50th anniversary edition is 1200+ pages long -- I felt almost like I was holding a precious metal. It's really, really a nice-looking book, and needs to be owned by any serious reader with any serious library. 

I started reading it, but quickly lost interest. Then I looked at the appendices. My first thought: my God! Tolkien was obsessed with the story. At some point had he crossed the line between sanity and insanity?

I'm not sure how I will proceed going forward --whether to read bits and pieces, but if so, why?  

Having said that, it's fun to fill in some of the gaps that I may have missed in TLOTR movies, even things as simple as the relationship between Frodo and Bilbo, the introduction of "the ring, and the arrival of Gandalf. 

Shakespeare and his history plays come to mind. 

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Sentient Beings

• hobbits
• Harfoots: associated with dwarves
• Stoors
• Fallohides
  
• elves
• dwarves
• men (humans)

shire-reckoning, p. 4: year one of the Shire

see dating: footnote, p. 4 -- 

the Shire -- four quarters -- p. 9 -- sounds a lot like Yorkshire

shirrifs: p. 10