J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography.

(1993). by Wayne G. Hammond with the assistance of Douglas A. AndersonNew Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books. Oak Knoll BooksIt is also available from St. Paul's Bibliographies, Winchester, U. K. Anyone willing to invest real mony in collecting books by Tolkien simply must have this book. It covers every known detail about the publication of his books. By reading around the minutia of publishing details, it is actually an interesting historical account of TolkienŐs trials and tribulations getting his works out to the public. Interesting themes come through in this account. It is clear from reading the material on the first edition of the Lord of the Rings that Allen & Unwin expected the book to be a failure as a business venture. Rayner Unwin says as much in his original communication to his father. That characterization of the book became a theme that worked its evil way through virtually every subsequent problem with publication, from the small printing of the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, to the copyright problems with a paperback version in the US. Since no one expected the book to do well, appropriate plans were not made to deal with the incredibly high demand for the book. Although Allen & Unwin had success with the Hobbit, and should have expected at least equivalent success with the Lord of the Rings, they could not have anticipated the frenzy of demand that developed, especially in the American mass market. Although HammondŐs mission in a bibliography is confined to publishing details, the story seeps through, and sections read like a journalistŐs account of a sailor making his way through the churning seas of publishing.

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