2024 The Shaping of Middle-earth (George Holmes)

Release Date: 2024.01
Reader: George Holmes
Language: English
Organization: Library of Congress
Publisher: American Printing House for the Blind
ISBN: n/a
Duration: 21 hours 37 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: USA
Licenced: Yes
Format: Digital
NLS Book Number: DB 113190

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.

George Holmes has recorded well over 500 books in all genres for the National Library Service & commercially. In 2002 he won the Alexander Scourby Award (recognising excellence in talking book narration which he won for The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry). Since he recorded The Fall of Gondolin, he has performed all subsequent Tolkien readings for APH.

Because this was recorded in 2023/2024, the noise floor is non-existent. You can hear every breath and subtle vocal inflection, which is a far cry from the tape hiss of the 1980s John Horton recording.

This volume is particularly significant because it contains the earliest Silmarillion map and the first Ambarkanta (The Shape of the World), presenting unique challenges for an audio narrator. Holmes had to read Christopher Tolkien’s detailed descriptions of the maps. The APH production team spent significantly more time on Alt-Text descriptions and navigating how George Holmes would “read” the maps for a blind audience. He uses a very deliberate, slowed-down pace during these sections, helping the listener mentally visualize the transition from the flat world to the round world.

In 2023, the NLS moved to a “Batch Production” model for the Tolkien Legendarium. Instead of recording one book, releasing it, and then starting the next, George Holmes recorded Volumes 3, 4, and 5 in a series of overlapping studio sessions at the APH. As Vol 5 was much simpler than Vol 4, it was processed and ready for release earlier than Vol 4. This “reverse release” caused some confusion among NLS patrons in early 2023, who were happy to see Vol. 5 appear but were left wondering if they had missed Vol. 4. It wasn’t until the January 2024 update that the “missing link” in the First Age geography finally arrived.

Volume	NLS Number	BARD Release	Reason for Timing
Vol. 5: The Lost Road	DB 113191	Jan 2023	Primarily narrative; faster to index.
Vol. 4: Shaping	DB 113190	Jan 2024	Heavy map/diagram content; required complex audio-description work.