An Encyclopedia of Tolkien
The History and Mythology that Inspired Tolkien’s World
I recently received a request for review for a book titled An Encyclopedia of Tolkien. Having been a fan of Tolkien’s work for many years I jumped at the chance.
David Day has written many books over the years on Tolkien and his work, and in recent years a series of gift bound books with titles such as The Heroes of Tolkien, The Dark Powers of Tolkien, and The Battles of Tolkien have appeared. An Encyclopedia of Tolkien acts, if you will, as a sort of index to these books, presenting bite-sized nuggets of information in alphabetical form.
It is worth noting that a sticker on the back of the book bears the disclaimer that “This work is unofficial and is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate of HarperCollins Publishers.” The sticker is removable by the way, in case you’d rather not have it marring the beautiful engraved leather.
The Blurb
The spellbinding world of Middle-Earth is full of beasts and battles, heroes and heroines, and the struggle between good and evil
Tolkien scholar and best-selling author David Day’s four decades of research inform this compelling encyclopedia about the lands, inhabitants, languages, geography, and history of Middle-Earth.
This volume on Tolkien’s world also includes over 200 illustrations and an appendix that examines the legends that were key sources for Tolkien’s creations – the Völsunga saga, the Niebelungenlied, and Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
First Impressions
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I don’t always agree. In this case there’s no denying that An Encyclopedia of Tolkien is a beautiful book. One that would look great on any bookshelf. The hardback, leatherbound cover is engraved with illustrations from Middle-Earth. The title on the front and blurb on the back cover are gilded, and the page edges are also. Considering it clocks in at almost 550 pages, and isn’t a thick book, the pages are of a decent quality. I’ve picked up similar books before where I’ve been concerned about tearing through their delicate pages.
Fans and scholars of Tolkien’s work may recognise some of the content presented in An Encyclopedia of Tolkien from Day’s previous works, such as Tolkien The Illustrated Encyclopedia or A Guide to Tolkien (both of which I already own). Where this new Encyclopedia differs is by introducing the mythological inspirations for the elements in Tolkien’s works. Day himself is a figure of some controversy in the Tolkien community, as he has a tendency to recycle content in what could be (cynically) viewed as a money making scheme. There are those out there who, when deeply involved in a fandom or particular topic, devlop completionist tendencies. Buying multiple copies of the same books/DVDs in different formats. I am one of those people, especially when it comes to the works of Tolkien.
I feel that there is enough different about An Encyclopedia of Tolkien to set it apart from Day’s other encyclopedic works.
The Mythology behind the Fantasy.
Where The Guide to Tolkien and Illustrated Encyclopedia give an abbreviated history of the character in Tolkien’s books, this new book explains in clear detail the mythological and historical inspirations that Tolkien drew upon. That influenced the
Many years ago my English Degree Dissertation was on Tolkien, and his desire to create a body of work that would make up for the lack of a quintessentially English mythology. I honestly wish I had had this book back then to use as an index to refer to.
Say, for example, you have a favourite character in Tolkien’s work. We will take Aragorn for the sake of this review. Day shows that the character was influenced by the pagan king Sigurd, from the Teutonic Ring Sagas. This simple entry would then allow someone who wanted to read more analysis of those influences to find more relevant texts.
Easy to Navigate
An Encyclopedia of Tolkien is easy to navigate. Day presents his information from both sides, the mythological influences and the Middle Earth creation. It’s also easy to distinguish between them. Those entries that refer to an entity in Middle Earth are headed in the distinct font Tolkien fans will recognise.
The chart section in the appendices lay out in tabular form the gods of Tolkien’s creation and their Norse, Greek and Roman analogs. Other charts help make sense of some of the family trees, as well as timelines of various events in Middle Earth.
A final section gives summaries of the three primary Ring legends (The Völsunga Saga, The Niebelungenlied and Wagner’s Ring Cycle) that influenced Tolkien’s writing.
Illustrations
An Encyclopedia of Tolkien contains over 200 illustrations, from a variety of artists, of elements of Middle Earth. With the exception of the endpapers however, all of these illustrations are presented in black and white. This is negative compared to the Illustrated Encyclopedia which presents many of the same illustrations in their original coloured forms. The first one that made me realise this was the illustration of the Destruction of Angband.
The Destruction of Angband by John Blanche, in colour from Tolkien The Illustrated Encyclopedia
The Destruction of Angband, by John Blanche, in black and white, from An Encyclopedia of Tolkien
Overall impressions
If you are looking for a handy, concise volume giving a brief summary of the mythological and historical influences of Tolkien’s works, then this is the one for you. Likewise, if you are searching for an elegant book for a fan of Tolkien who might want to learn a little more. If you are searching for something with more scholarly detail this book won’t fulfil your needs, but may be a handy reference index.
