Tolkien Gleanings #256

* From the Bodleian and free on YouTube, “Christopher Tolkien at 100: A celebration”.

* A new issue of Amon Hen from the Tolkien Society ($ paywall). The new December 2024 issue has, among others…

    – An examination of… “why Galadriel arrayed Aragorn as an Elf-lord of the West and seemingly favoured his match with Arwen”.
    – A short review of the new History of Middle-earth four-box box-set, focusing on the physical quality… “the bindings are glued instead of stitched”.
    – Reviews of the books Tolkien’s Faith (2023), Leadership in Middle-earth (2021), and a brief personal review-note on the new Collected Poems.
    – Two pages on Goldberry as a supporting character.

Also an intriguing reprint of some artwork I’d not seen before. Presented small and tagged only as “Ent and Entwife by Arthur Rackham”. Reverse image-search shows it to be from Hawthorne’s Wonderbook (1922 edition), retelling selected Ancient Greek myths for children. The book is only to be found on Archive.org as A wonder book, where the artwork is found inserted just before page 167.

* The latest rolling edition of Journal of Tolkien Research is filling up, with new additions including a review of Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth (2024). The review is freely available online.

* Slipping out of U.S. copyright in the New Year, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Modern Version of the XIV Century Alliterative Poem in the Original Metre (1929). The book was published as an attractive popular edition by Dent in early spring 1929 — thus it seems very likely that Tolkien would have at least looked through it, perhaps in the summer of 1929. Well-reviewed, and then reprinted in 1931. Not on Archive.org, but Hathi Trust has a 1929 scan due for release on the due date. Not in Tolkien’s Library (2nd Edition).

* Notice of a private Tolkien Lecture for the Old Edwardians KES Boys. March 2025, at the new Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, part of Tolkien’s old school (now relocated into south Birmingham). No topic given.

* Set for 9th August 2025 at the Museum in Tewkesbury in the West Midlands, a talk on “Tolkien and the Cotswolds – The shaping of Middle-earth”. No speaker named.

* And finally, at the Grolier in New York City, “Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Works”. The exhibition runs until 15th February 2025, and there is also an online version.