With original pictures that inspired Tolkien

Sources

"The Letters of JRR Tolkien." A wonderful book!

Publisher: Mariner Book

Sources: How we verify our books

Every book in The Professor's Bookshelf has been shown to have informed Professor J.R.R. Tolkien. Our research has taken us among his published letters, his essays, and the literary scholars who specialise in studying his work.

Our main sources are the words of the man himself, as printed in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and in his essay On Fairy Stories.

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien is a selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's letters published in 1981, edited by Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The selection contains 354 letters, dating between October 1914, when Tolkien was an undergraduate at Oxford, and August 29, 1973, four days before his death. (Wikipedia)

On Fairy-Stories is an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien which discusses the fairy-story as a literary form. It was initially written (and entitled simply "Fairy Stories") for presentation by Tolkien as the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 1939. The essay is significant because it contains Tolkien's explanation of his philosophy on fantasy and thoughts on mythopoiesis. Moreover, the essay is an early analysis of speculative fiction by one of the most important authors in the genre. (Wikipedia)

Literary Sources:

Anderson, Douglas A. ed. Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy.

Anderson, Douglas A. ed. The Annotated Hobbit.

Evans, Johnathan. "The Dragon Lore of Middle-earth: Tolkien and Old English and Old Norse Tradition". In Clark & Timmons 2000

Simek, Rudolf (2005). Mittelerde: Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie [Middle-earth: Tolkien and the Germanic Mythology] (in German). C. H. Beck.

Burns, Marjorie (2005). Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-3806-9.

Byock, Jesse L. (1990). The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06904-8.

Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-31555-7

Here's another cover for "The Letters of JRR Tolkien."

This popular book has been issued with a variety of covers.

Chance, Jane (2001). Tolkien's Art: A Mythology for England. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9020-7.

Chance, Jane (2004). Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2301-1.

Clark, George; Timmons, Daniel, eds. (2000). J. R. R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-Earth. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-30845-4.

Day, David (2002). Tolkien's Ring. New York: Barnes and Noble. ISBN 1-58663-527-1.

Flieger, Verlyn (2002). Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-744-9.

Flieger, Verlyn (2005). Interrupted Music: The Making Of Tolkien's Mythology. Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873388245. Retrieved 2 December 2007.

Hooker, Mark T. (2006). Tolkienian Mathomium: A Collection of Articles on J. R. R. Tolkien and his Legendarium. Llyfrawr. ISBN 978-1-4382-4631-4.

Hooker, Mark T. (2014). The Tolkienæum: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien and his Legendarium. Llyfrawr. ISBN 978-1499759105.

Lobdell, Jared C. (2004). The World of the Rings: Language, Religion, and Adventure in Tolkien. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9569-4.

Shippey, Tom (2000). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-261-10400-4.

Shippey, Tom (2007). Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien. Cormarë Series. 11. Zurich and Berne: Walking Tree Publishers. ISBN 978-3-905703-05-4.

Simek, Rudolf (2005). Mittelerde: Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie [Middle-earth: Tolkien and the Germanic Mythology] (in German). C. H. Beck. ISBN 9783406528378.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977), Christopher Tolkien, ed., The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-25730-1

Turner, A. (2007). The Silmarillion: 30 years on. Walking Tree Publishers. ISBN 978-3-905703-10-8.