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The third volume of The History of Middle-earth contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.The Lays of Beleriand, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth, gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world - those of Turien and Lhien. The first of the poems is the unpublished "Lay of The Children of Hin," narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Tin Turambar. The second is the moving "Lay of Leithian," the chief source of the tale of Beren and Lhien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress.Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of "The Lay of The Leithian" by C. S. Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.

In one volume for the first time, this revised and updated examination of how J.R.R. Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit includes his complete unpublished draft version of the story, together with notes and illustrations by Tolkien himself.The Hobbit was first published on September 21,1937. Like its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that “grew in the telling,” and many characters and plot threads in the published text are quite different from the story J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as one of their “fireside reads.”Together in one volume, The History of the Hobbit presents the complete text of the unpublished manuscript of The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff’s lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. Recording the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, he examines—chapter by chapter—why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien’s ever-grow