About J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien lived from 1892 till 1973. At the centenary of his birth in 1992 the British Royal Mail issued a Prestige Booklet.
He was born in Bloemfontein in South Africa, but returned to England as a young boy. His parents died early. He went to University, and he also served in the First World War.
In 1925 he became Professor at Oxford, first Professor of anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, and then, from 1945 until his retirement in 1959, Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.
He is best known as the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

The Hobbit Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien	The Lord of the Rings Cover illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien	The Silmarillion Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

In addition to his academic writings, he also wrote other books of fiction. Some of them had cover illustrations by Pauline Baynes.

At the fiftieth anniversary for the publishing of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, in 2004, the British Royal Mail issued a set of stamps with Tolkien's drawings.

If you want to read more than just his books:
A Chronological Bibliography of the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien
compiled by Åke Bertenstam at
http://www.forodrim.org/arda/tbchron.html

One of Tolkien's chief interests was linguistics. Academically he did research on the literary and linguistic tradition of the English West Midlands. For his own enjoyment he created languages, which then became the core in his fiction works set in Middle-earth. The most developed ones were Quenya and Sindarin.

To study his languages, go to Ardalambion (The languages of Arda) at www.ardalambion.com or at www.uib.no/People/hnohf/index.html

You can find a good overview of elements of Quenya at Lambė Eldaiva - The Language of the Elves

The signature Aikanaro has made a page of Quenya resources

At The Blade That Was Broken there is a language section

Here you can find an article about alphabet formation in Middle-earth



Try the discussion board Minas Tirith at http://www.minastirith.com



Footsteps of Spring
by Henning Janssen (displaying a young Luthien)
Posted with the artist's permission

Resources in Norwegian:
Les den norske Tolkien-siden min.