The History of Middle-earth

The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume book series that chronicles the creation and evolution of JRR Tolkien’s legendarium, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien. Released between 1983 and 1996, the series provides an unparalleled scholarly deep dive into Tolkien’s creative process, containing a wealth of unpublished manuscripts, drafts, and notes.

The books are not narrative stories but rather a collection of documents that trace the development of Tolkien’s mythos from its earliest forms, often known as The Book of Lost Tales, to the final, published versions of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. Christopher Tolkien meticulously organized his father’s chaotic and voluminous papers to show the intricate changes and abandoned ideas behind Middle-earth’s history, languages, and cosmology.

Key works within the series include The Book of Lost Tales, Parts One and Two, which present the earliest drafts of the myths and legends, and The Shaping of Middle-earth, which details the radical changes Tolkien made to the geography and stories. Volumes nine through twelve, which include Sauron Defeated and The Peoples of Middle-earth, are of particular interest to fans of The Lord of the Rings as they contain drafts of the novel itself, as well as an exploration of the creation of the appendices.

The series is an essential resource for scholars and dedicated fans, revealing the immense and lifelong effort Tolkien poured into his world. It showcases not only the final polished product but also the intricate, ever-changing journey of a singular creative mind.

1. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I (1983)
2. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II (1984)
3. The Lays of Beleriand (1985)
4. The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986)
5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987)
6. The Return of the Shadow (1988)
7. The Treason of Isengard (1989)
8. The War of the Ring (1990)
9. Sauron Defeated (1992)
10. Morgoth’s Ring (1993)
11. The War of the Jewels (1994)
12. The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)

Also included here is The Nature of Middle-earth (2021) which is not properly part of the HoME series but is effectively the ’13th’ volume.