tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293Fri, 22 May 2026 11:04:29 +0000Ballantine Adult FantasyJ.R.R. TolkienE.R. EddisonThe HobbitTolkien StudiesTolkienDouglas A. AndersonLin CarterTom ShippeyClark Ashton SmithEvangeline WaltonGervasio GallardoJournal of Tolkien ResearchL. Sprague de CampLord DunsanyPan/BallantineStyrbiorn the StrongVerlyn FliegerAnthony BurdgeAs IfBeowulfCharles WilliamsChris RiddellDale NelsonDoc WeirE.A. Wyke-SmithEdward S. LouisH.P. LovecraftJames Branch CabellJessica BurkeMartin SimonsonMatthew DickersonMervyn PeakeMichael LivingstonMichael SalerRichard AdamsTales Before TolkienThe Marvellous Land of SnergsThe SilmarillionTolkien On Fairy-storiesUl de RicoAA Study f the Hithlain of the Wood-Elves of LorienA.E. CoppardAce BooksAdam RobertsAlison LurieAndrew LangAnne C. PettyAnne PettyArthur MachenArthur RackhamAthar ChaudhryAugust DerlethBantam BooksBasil DavenportBernhardt J. HurwoodBooks Dedicated to TolkienBoris ArtzybasheffBreton balladsC.H. DoddC.L. MooreC.S. LewisCanadian printingsCaroline HillierCharles E. NoadCharlie and the Chocolate FactoryChristopher TolkienChristopher W. MitchellConanDaleDaniel GrottaDavid HadenDavid LindsayDiana WaggonerDinah HazellE.L. McKinneyE.L. RisdenEdmund WeinerEleanore MerrittElizabeth LongfordElla YoungElvishFonwayFonwegianFrancis StevensFraudFront GateG.E. SelbyGeorge Bernard ShawGerman translationGrevel LindopH. Warner MunnH.P. Lovecraft. Evangeline WaltonHard ReadingHumphrey CarpenterIris MurdochIrish translationIsidore HaiblumJ.S. RyanJack C. RangJane GaskellJared LobdellJoanna RussJohn BetjemanJohn BowenJohn CrowleyJohn DuncanJohn EzardJohn Henry NewmanJohn RosegrantJohn William HoughtonJohn Wm. HoughtonJohn-Henri HolmbergJorge Luis BorgesKeith HendersonKen SlaterKenneth MorrisKlett-CottaLate ReviewsLay of Aotrou and ItrounLembas ExtraLeonard ClineLeonora CarringtonLeslie MegaheyLord Count and the fairyM.P. ShielMaggie BurnsMagic KingdomsMagicQuestMalcolm FergusonMallornMarion Zimmer BradleyMark J. P. WolfMary FairburnMashable 3-minute HobbitMati KlarweinMax BeerbohmMerrittMichael AdamsMichael HagueMichael N. StantonMike FosterMrs. Eleanor MerrittNelson BondNobel PrizeNodens BooksOliphauntOxonmootPaperback Library Fantasy NovelsParma EldalmberonPeter S. BeaglePoul AndersonRichard C. WestRichard DalbyRichard MathewsRiver RunningRoald DahlRobert E. HowardRobert HoldstockRobert J. LeeRoger C. SchlobinRosa MulhollandS.V. ProudfitSam MoskowitzSanders Anne LaubenthalSeamus CullenShadow-BrideShirley JacksonSmith of Wooton Major: Extended EditionStephen Angelo VrettosSterling LanierStuart LeeSubcreationSue BridgwaterSusan CooperSwords & SorceryTales Before Tolkien. The ChangelingTerri WindlingThe Annotated HobbitThe Dark DominionThe Dark Shadows Book of Vampires and WerewolvesThe GuardianThe HobyahsThe Journal of Tolkien ResearchThe Magazine of Fantasy and Science FictionThe New York Review of Science FictionThe Qenya AlphabetThe RagthornThe Road Goes Ever OnThe Walking TreesThe Woodman and the ElvesThe Woodman and the GoblinsThe Worm OuroborosThere and Back AgainThomas HoneggerTimothy P. Wickham-CrowleyTolkien Oddments substackTolkien SocietyTolkien in OxfordTolkien's DeskTom BombadilTreesUbiquitous Fantasies of the late 1970sVeronica CossanteliVincent Di FateWeird TalesWilliam EmpsonWilliam MorrisZebraZuleika Dobsonlintipssigned quotationsubscribing by emailMusings on Tolkien and modern fantasy literature.http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)Blogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-1770072942118129305Sun, 03 May 2026 00:50:00 +00002026-05-02T20:50:00.124-04:00Books Dedicated to TolkienTolkien Oddments substackOkay, I'm experimenting. My post on "Books Dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien During His Lifetime" is freely available at my (new) Tolkien Oddments substack&nbsp; I think you can link to it here.&nbsp; For now I have about five ideas for occasional Oddments posts, which should give me enough time to decide whether its a useful venue or whether I like blogging better. I'm not giving up on blogging. http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2026/05/books-dedicated-to-jrr-tolkien-during.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-6110936460547023022Sun, 31 Aug 2025 05:00:00 +00002025-09-02T09:19:42.130-04:00ADouglas A. AndersonEleanore MerrittMerrittMrs. Eleanor MerrittA. Merritt (1877-1943)For anyone interested in the life and works of A. Merritt, the book A. Merritt: Reflections in the Moon Pool (1985), edited by Sam Moskowitz, is an extremely frustrating resource.* It is a hodge-podge of stray writings by Merritt (poems, stories, interviews, fragments) or about Merritt (poems in praise of Merritt, and fanzine articles on him), with interspersed and often http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2025/08/correcting-facts-about-merritts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-417952987434117776Mon, 11 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +00002025-08-20T09:54:39.641-04:00OxonmootTolkien SocietyMy dragon award from the Tolkien Society, announced here (with other winners) at the end of April,&nbsp; arrived a few weeks ago. It looks splendid. Thanks to all involved in the selection and administration, and congratulations to all the other winners.Subsequently I was asked to give a talk at Oxonmoot (September 4th-7th), and I agreed to do so. It will be via Zoom, and my topic is "Humphrey http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2025/08/tolkien-society-award-and-oxonmoot-2025.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-3261092600251220702Sat, 08 Mar 2025 19:30:00 +00002025-03-10T16:58:59.428-04:00C.L. MooreClark Ashton SmithConanL. Sprague de CampLord DunsanyPoul AndersonRobert E. HowardIn July 1964, L. Sprague de Camp sent J.R.R. Tolkien a copy of his anthology, Swords &amp; Sorcery, which had been published in December 1963. It is a collection of eight stories, with an introduction by de Camp, and colored cover art and eight interior black and white illustrations by Virgil Finlay. &nbsp;Tolkien already knew the art of Virgil Finlay because his American publisher, Houghton http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2025/03/tolkien-on-de-camps-swords-sorcery.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-3952672781912781328Sat, 04 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +00002025-01-09T22:50:38.834-05:00Jorge Luis BorgesSo far as I know, Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), Argentinian author of such magisterial fantasy stories as "The Aleph" and "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," mentioned Tolkien only twice--and not favorably. I wondered why, for it would have seemed, knowing Borges's other interests (from Anglo-Saxon to Lewis Carroll--Borges was especially well-read in British literature), that he might have been a fan.http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2025/01/borges-on-tolkien.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-4822932980945979511Wed, 25 Dec 2024 02:30:00 +00002024-12-25T10:16:12.444-05:00Richard AdamsRecently I finished a checklist of the writings of Richard Adams (1920-2016), the author of Watership Down and many other books. My checklist accounts for the first editions of his books, short stories, juvenilia, nonfiction, and a selection of interviews with him. I was surprised no one had done such a thing before. It will appear in a volume <!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]-->Watership Downhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/12/books-by-richard-adams-that-are-not-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-8118109585015509595Wed, 18 Sep 2024 04:00:00 +00002024-09-18T01:55:45.021-04:00Ul de RicoI just learned that the painter, illustrator and writer known as Ul de Rico (his full name was Ulderico Conte Gropplero di Troppenburg) passed away on 3 August 2023, a bit over a year ago, aged 79. I've written about him before, and here is the link. &nbsp;The Rainbow Goblins has been a favorite of mine since I first discovered it not long after U.S. publication in 1978. His family's announcementhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/09/ul-de-rico-1944-2023.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-2562379193514313345Sat, 24 Aug 2024 23:15:00 +00002024-08-25T13:54:04.845-04:00J.R.R. TolkienJack C. RangIn The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1981), there is about eight pages worth of text comprising "Drafts for a letter to 'Mr Rang'" (Letter no. 297, pp. 379-387). I never knew there was any mystery about the identity of Mr. Rang until my friend Jessica Yates just sent me a draft of her short piece on this topic (now published here). My research of some ten years ago identified a different person. http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/08/who-was-mr-rang-in-tolkiens-letters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-5956870566444478019Fri, 02 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +00002024-08-02T02:00:00.118-04:00Tales Before Tolkien. The ChangelingSo I started watching the Apple tv series The Changeling, based on the Victor Lavelle novel, and at the very beginning there is shown a shelf of books in a library in Queens. I always cue in to the titles of books when they show up as props in a film or in a series.&nbsp; So imagine my surprise to see one of my own books, Tales Before Tolkien, in this shot from The Changeling.Click on the photo http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/08/an-unexpected-sighting-of-one-of-my.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-5870065434626288932Thu, 13 Jun 2024 06:00:00 +00002024-06-13T02:00:00.244-04:00signed quotationTreesIn May 2024, a scrap of paper<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-price-per-word.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-8469511888225568583Fri, 12 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +00002024-04-12T02:00:00.135-04:00Richard AdamsThe SilmarillionThe fact that Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, was one of the first reviewers of The Silmarillion on its publication in 1977, seems to have long escaped Tolkienists, and Tolkien bibliographers. The review is not cited in Richard C. West's impressive Tolkien Criticism: An Annotated Checklist (revised edition 1981), nor in Judith A. Johnson's J.R.R. Tolkien: Six Decades of Criticism (1986),http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/04/richard-adams-on-silmarillion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-2519772874040258901Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:20:00 +00002024-04-08T16:05:25.721-04:00Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryRoald DahlThe 1964 &amp; 1973 Knopf dwThe recent hullabaloo over posthumously revising classic texts to conform to contemporary ideologies reminded me that I have long wanted to look into the changes Roald Dahl himself made in 1973 to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here are the results of my study. [A companion piece on the first edition points of the Knopf edition can be found here.]&nbsp; Charlie andhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/03/roald-dahls-1973-revisions-to-charlie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-5981271313995013880Wed, 21 Feb 2024 17:09:00 +00002024-02-21T12:16:59.706-05:00Richard MathewsI just googled to see if my old friend Richard Mathews was still the Director of the University of Tampa Press, only to find out that he died last month. I met him at the 1987 Mythcon in Milwaukee, where we both appeared on a panel on David Lindsay. We found we had many common interests. Richard had published, with Borgo Press, a short book on Tolkien, Lightning from a Clear Sky (1978), and otherhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/02/rip-richard-mathews-1944-2024.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-5427888173939332202Mon, 05 Feb 2024 18:03:00 +00002024-02-05T19:08:55.770-05:00Max BeerbohmZuleika Dobson&nbsp;Oscar Wilde by MaxThe New York Public Library recently hosted an exhibition on Max Beerbohm: The Price of Celebrity from October 20, 2023--January 28, 2024. A small book (around one hundred pages), with text by Margaret D. Stetz, with Mark Samuels Lasner, describes many of the items showcased in the exhibition.&nbsp;Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) is perhaps best remembered as a caricaturist (he http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/02/tolkien-on-max-beerbohm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-4955931529537164946Sun, 21 Jan 2024 07:30:00 +00002024-01-21T02:30:00.244-05:00Andrew LangBeowulfJ.R.R. TolkienIn Tolkien On Fairy-Stories (2008), Verlyn Flieger and I noted that in Tolkien's research notes for his famous lecture/essay, Tolkien queried himself twice about whether on not Andrew Lang had included a retold Beowulf in any of his Fairy Books--the first time briefly, but in the second instance with a bit of commentary:&nbsp;A Fairy Story. But when retold (seldom) it is not retold as such. For http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2024/01/fairy-tale-versions-of-beowulf.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-1984046620898401982Thu, 07 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +00002023-12-07T03:00:00.134-05:00Chris RiddellThe HobbitWhen I made my previous post, I did not know that Chris Riddell had earlier illustrated Tolkien in a similar anthology of illustrated extracts. Thanks to Trotter for pointing this volume out to me. And the earlier book turns out to be a far more interesting book than the one I had known about, for a number of reasons.&nbsp;The Puffin Treasury of Children's Stories was published in 1996. No editorhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/12/off-trail-hobbit-illustrations-chris.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-3011541544245381778Fri, 24 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +00002023-11-24T01:00:00.142-05:00Chris RiddellThe HobbitThe Puffin Twentieth-Century Collection of Stories (1999), edited by Judith Elkin, is a collections of extracts from 23 children's books, each extract illustrated by a different artist, in varying modes. The Tolkien extract is from the Troll chapter of The Hobbit, and its illustrations are by Chris Riddell.&nbsp;The full-page illustration is towards the end of the extract, and depicts Gandalf.&http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/11/off-trail-hobbit-illustrations-chris.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-529813679897335911Mon, 20 Nov 2023 06:30:00 +00002023-11-28T15:43:13.073-05:00Michael HagueThe HobbitMichael Hague illustrated the 1984 edition of The Hobbit, but that wasn't the only time he illustrated scenes from The Hobbit.&nbsp; Also in 1984, the Easton Press published a special edition of The Hobbit with a frontispiece by Hague that is not included in any other edition of the book. I show the title page and frontispiece here:&nbsp;&nbsp;Click to enlargeOne aspect of this illustration is http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/11/off-trail-hobbit-illustrations-michael.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-7934770608256139819Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:04:00 +00002023-10-24T00:37:49.221-04:00Tolkien StudiesSo David Bratman of Tolkien Studies just posted here that Verlyn Flieger is retiring from the journal after 22 years. I wondered: has it really been that long since Mike Drout and I first discussed the idea, and asked Verlyn to join us in founding the journal?&nbsp; Yes, it has indeed been 22 years.&nbsp; I dug into my old emails with Mike. Here is the seed of the whole operation.I emailed Mike http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/10/tolkien-studies-annual-scholarly-review.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-6573699037035140789Sun, 10 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +00002023-09-10T15:00:00.147-04:00A.E. CoppardJ.R.R. Tolkien<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/09/tolkien-and-ae-coppard.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-4199633878043187968Tue, 05 Sep 2023 02:00:00 +00002023-09-07T11:14:56.669-04:00Elizabeth LongfordJohn BetjemanLord Dunsany<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/09/lord-dunsany-as-lord-insany.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-5377269574236974042Thu, 17 Aug 2023 07:15:00 +00002023-08-22T00:59:52.882-04:00Rosa MulhollandThe Walking TreesRecently, David Haden, at his Lovecraftian blog Tentaclii, noted that an old and rare children's fantasy is now available in pdf-form for the first time (link accessible here). This is a curious short novella The Walking Trees: A Story for Children by Irish writer Rosa Mulholland (1841-1921). It is comprised of ten chapters, and originally appeared in three issues in volume 4 (1876) of The Irish http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-walking-trees-by-rosa-mullholland.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-3372468077453352746Mon, 17 Jul 2023 17:09:00 +00002023-07-18T16:38:16.067-04:00Charles E. NoadCharles in 1987My friend Charles Noad was found dead on Thursday of last week. I met him at a meeting of the Northfarthing Smial (of the Tolkien Society) in London, on the 2nd of July 1978, so our friendship goes back a full forty-five years. He befriended many Tolkienists, and kept extensive accounts with some of us Americans, as he supplied us with UK books, and we supplied him with US ones. Hehttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/07/rip-charles-e-noad-1947-2023.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-2261296526919484802Fri, 09 Jun 2023 04:15:00 +00002023-06-10T00:31:49.641-04:00A Study f the Hithlain of the Wood-Elves of LorienDoc WeirMarion Zimmer BradleyIn a post from 2021 on this blog, I wrote:Doc Weir* (1906-1961) had self-published as a booklet one of the first internal studies of Tolkien’s invented world, A Study of the Hithlain of the Wood-Elves of Lórien (1957), the year before he joined science fiction fandom.I must revise this statement, as I have finally seen the item referred to. It is catalogued in library databases as though it is anhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/06/doc-weir-revisited.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6983947031591926293.post-8593264886686717259Sun, 21 May 2023 05:00:00 +00002023-05-31T22:37:12.054-04:00Bernhardt J. HurwoodThe Dark DominionThe Dark Shadows Book of Vampires and WerewolvesThe Dark Shadows Book of Vampires and Werewolves (Paperback Library, 1970) is an anonymously edited collection of nine stories. all to do with (as the title suggests) vampires and werewolves. It is purportedly edited by Barnabas and Quentin Collins, the (fictional) vampire and werewolf characters, respectively, of the popular daytime television show, and it includes a six page introduction signedhttp://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-tale-of-two-anthologies-of-vampires.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Douglas A. Anderson)6