The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide

• Author: Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond
• Year: 2017
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
• City: London

The most in-depth, comprehensive and referential guide to Tolkien’s life and all his works.

It includes a two-part Reader’s Guide and a stand-alone Chronology.

A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary

• Author: J. R. Clark-Hall
• Year: 2011
• Publisher: Wilder Publications
• Blacksburg VA

This is a re-print of the classic dictionary that carefully, and exhaustively, deals with all the words that occur in Anglo-Saxon poetry and prose

Kalevala Guide

• Author: Irma-Riitta Järvinen
• Year: 2017
• Publisher: Kalevala Society
• City: Tieto
• Edition: 2nd Revised

“This book provides you with the basics of the Kalevala, in a nutshell – what you need to know about the most widely translated work of Finnish literature”

Kalevala: The Land of Heroes

• Author: Elias Lönnrot
• Year: 1907
• Translator: W. F. Kirby
• Publisher: J. M. Dent & Co
• City: London

I’ve been quite lucky to pick up this set of the edition that Tolkien probably read himself!

It’s a first edition of both volumes, both originally owned by the same person. The second volumes cover has certainly “weathered” more.

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

• Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
• Year: 2006
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
• City: London
• Editor: Humphrey Carpenter (with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien)

An indispensable book for anyone seeking to understand more about Tolkien himself, his works and his own thoughts.

Parma Eldlamberon XVII

• Editor: Christopher Gilson
• Year: 2007
• City: Mountain View, California

A book studying the words, phrases and passages in Lord of the Rings in Quenya, Sindarin, Dwarvish, Rohirric, and Black Speech languages.

The Silmarillion

• Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
• Year: 2021
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
• City: London
• Editor: Christopher Tolkien

This is the Ted Nasmith illustrated Deluxe Edition.

I’m proud to own this…

The Story of Kullervo

• Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
• Year: 2015
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
• City: London
• Editor: Verlyn Flieger

Verlyn Flieger has pulled together Tolkien’s writings based on Elias Lönnrot’s Kalevala and the charcater Kullervo.

The Kullervo story became an inspiration for Tolkien’s own character Túrin Turambar.

I found this to be an essential read when looking into the influence of the Kalevala on Tolkien himself, as well as his works.

Tolkien and the Invention of Myth

• Editor: Jane Chance
• Year: 2004
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• City: Lexington

A collection of essays illuminating the originas of Tolkien’s mythological influences.

Contributors include amongst others, Tom Shippey, Michael D. C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger and David Elton Gay

The History of the Albigensian Crusade

• Author: Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay
• Trans.: W. A. Sibly & M. D. Sibly
• Year: 2000
• Publisher: The Boydell Press
• City: Woodbridge

A translation of the Historia Albigensia, written between 1212-1218 by a young Cistercian monk called Peter. It is one of the most important sources for the history of the Cathar heresy and the Albigensian Crusade.

The Battle of Maldon together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

• Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
• Year: 2023
• Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
• City: London
• Editor: Peter Grybauskas

This brings together Tolkien’s work on the Old English poen The Battle of Maldon which occured in 991. It includes essays on Old English and Tolkien’s own prose translation, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth.

It also provided inspiration for his fictional work, The Lord of the Rings.

Unesco – The Courier

• Format: Magazine
• Editor: Edouard Glissant
• Year: August 1985
• Publisher: UNESCO
• City: Paris

The Courier id the official magazine of UNESCO. It is a monthly publication, published in 32 languages. This particular issue discusses the relationship between the spoken and the written word. This is because of the strong inclination in contemporary thinking to discount oral literature.