1978 The Silmarillion (Bob Askey)

Release Date: 1978
Reader: Bob Askey
Language: English
Organization: Library of Congress
Publisher: American Printing House for the Blind
ISBN: n/a
Duration: 18 hours 8 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: USA
Licenced: Yes
Format: 10 x 4-track, 15/16 ips cassettes
NLS Book Number: RC 10832

Produced by American Printing House for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled service of the Library of Congress. This reading was made purely for eligible members of this special library service in the USA and not available for commercial release.

Bob Askey, born 1975, was a radio and tv actor who also narrated hundreds of talking books from the 1970s into the 2000s and was a two-time winner of the Alexander Scourby Award from the American Foundation for the Blind.

In 1978 he recorded not only The Silmarillion but a new version of The Hobbit (RC11497) to replace the aging Alan Haines vinyl master. His versions of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion were the only ones available on cassette for over twenty years.

Askey’s recording included the Index of Names and the Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names section at the end of the book. Many modern commercial recordings (like Martin Shaw’s) omit these, but the NLS mandate required full accessibility. Askey’s precise articulation of consonants in names like Eärendil and Fingolfin was specifically noted in patron feedback.