Before
The Silmarillion
,
The Hobbit
and
The Lord of the Rings
, the earliest myths and legends of Middle-earth and Valinor were laid down in
The Book of Lost Tales
, written by J.R.R. Tolkien between 1916 and 1920, and compiled by Christopher Tolkien for publication in 1983.
The Book of Lost Tales
stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, for the
Tales
were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called
The Silmarillion
.
Embedded in English legend, they are set in the narrative frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol to the lonely Isle where the Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse. In the
Tales
are found the earliest accounts of Gods and Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs and Orcs; of the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; of the geography and cosmology of Tolkien’s invented world.
This first volume in Christopher Tolkien’s epic
History of Middle-earth
series is the perfect gateway for anyone wanting to tread deeper into the rich tapestry of Tolkien’s world and discover the evolution of the Middle-earth stories.
