How It's Used

"The Hobbit, his first successful book, recounts the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, enlisted by Gandalf to recover a stolen treasure. Nearly 20 years later came The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a more serious and ambitious work in which Bilbo's heir, Frodo, sets out for fiery Mount Doom. It offers a minutely detailed fantasy world, complete with history and languages. Bilbo's magic ring is discovered to be the One Ring, which the evil Sauron must regain to control the world."

—Amanda Craig, "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945: 6. J. R. R. Tolkien," The Times (UK), January 5, 2008.

"Using children's picture books and illustrated novels as inspiration is nothing new for Hollywood. Several of the most beloved early Disney animation features originated that way. Yet the past few years have seen picture books come to the screen as never before. As a source of family-oriented films they've been exceeded only by fantasy titles ('The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, the Harry Potter books, the 'Narnia' series, 'The Golden Compass')."

—Mark Feeney, "Illustrating a Hollywood happy ending," The Boston Globe, March 9, 2008.

"A first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 novel 'The Hobbit' was sold at an auction at the Bonhams auction house, London, for £60,000 ($122,000), twice its predicted value, on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported. Inscribed by the author and dedicated to Elaine Griffiths, a friend of Tolkien's who helped with its publication, 'The Hobbit' has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide since its first print run of 1,500 sold out. The auction also included the last known photo of Tolkien, taken in Oxford in 1973, and the first foreign-language edition of the book, a Swedish translation from 1947. 'The Hobbit' was originally written for Tolkien's children and preceded his fantasy trilogy, 'The Lord of the Rings.'"

—"Tolkien First Edition Is Auctioned," The New York Times, March 20, 2008.

Links

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on "The Lord of the Rings"
"The Lord of the Rings" Web site at Houghton Mifflin, its American publisher
"The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy official Web site

Product Links
"The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" boxed set