Contents Foreword Note to the Reader 1. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch, by Catherine McIlwaine 2. Tolkien and the Inklings, by John Garth 3. Faërie: Tolkien's Perilous Land, by Verlyn Flieger 4. Inventing Elvish, by Carl F. Hostetter 5. Tolkien and 'that noble northern spirit', by Tom Shippey 6. Tolkien's Visual Art, by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull CATALOGUE Reading Tolkien: 'to England; to my country' Childhood: 'the undarkened heart and mind' Student Days: 'Friendship to the Nth power' Sheer Invention: 'new patterns of old colours' The Silmarillion: 'myth-woven and elf-patterned' The Professor at Home: 'from time already mortgaged' The Hobbit: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit' The Lord of the Rings: 'lightning from a clear sky' Mapping Middle-earth: 'Not all those who wander are lost' Further Reading Acknowledgements Contributors Picture credits Index sakriti opis