A Guide to Middle-earth
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| A Guide to Middle-earth | |
 Front of wrap-around dust jacket |
|
| Author | Robert Foster |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Tim Kirk |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Middle-earth |
| Genre(s) | Reference |
| Publisher | Mirage Press, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Publication date | 1971 |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 292 |
| ISBN | n/a |
| Followed by | The Complete Guide to Middle-earth (revised and expanded edition) |
A Guide to Middle-earth was the first published encyclopedic reference book for the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, compiled and edited by Robert Foster. The book was published in 1971 by Mirage Press, a specialist science fiction and fantasy publisher, in a limited edition of 2000 copies (750 numbered hardcovers and 1250 unnumbered paperbacks). A paperback edition was issued by Ballantine Books in 1974[1].
The author profile on the first edition describes Robert Foster as the then-"Tengwar Consultant" to the Tolkien Society of America, and the book incorporates material previously published in the fanzine Niekas (see also Tolkien fandom).
A much-expanded edition incorporating entries for The Silmarillion was issued in 1978 by Ballantine under the title The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, and a further revised edition (ISBN 0-345-44976-2) was published in 2001 in time for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
[edit] Notes
- ^ See Drout, Michael D. C., ed.: J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2006, ISBN 0-4159-6942-5, pp.655-656
