Volume 1 of the most comprehensive in-depth companion to Tolkien’s life and works ever published, including synopses of all his writings, and a Tolkien gazetteer and who’s who. The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide is a comprehensive handbook to one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century. One of two volumes comprising this definitive work, the Chronology traces J.R.R. Tolkien's progress from his birth in South Africa in 1892, to the battlefields of France and the lecture-halls of Leeds and Oxford, to his success as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, until his death in 1973. It is the most extensive biographical resource about Tolkien ever published. Thousands of details have been drawn from letters, contemporary documents in libraries and archives, and a wide variety of other published and unpublished sources. Assembled together, they form a revealing portrait of Tolkien in all his aspects: the distinguished scholar of Old and Middle English, the capable teacher and administrator, the devoted husband and father, the brilliant creator of Middle-earth.

A series of concise alphabetical entries offers a definitive overview of Tolkien and his works, covering such topics as his source materials, brief biographies of key individuals, a guide to places and institutions, the historical and social events of his time, his writings, and his life.

Volume 2 of the most comprehensive in-depth companion to Tolkien’s life and works ever published. This volume includes a superlative day-by-day chronology of Tolkien’s life, presenting the most detailed biographical record available. The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide is a comprehensive handbook to one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century. One of two volumes comprising this definitive work, the Reader's Guide is an indispensable introduction to J. R. R. Tolkien's life, writings, and art. It includes histories and discussions of his works; analyses of the components of his vast 'Silmarillion' mythology; brief biographies of persons important in his life; accounts of places he knew; essays on topics such as Tolkien's interests and attitudes towards contemporary issues, ideas found in his works, adaptations, and invented languages; and checklists of his published works, his poetry, his pictorial art, and translations of his writings.