One doesn't simply "walk into Powell's for one book..."
$550 later...
("They come in SETS?")
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
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I got to visit Powell’s once when I was visiting family; absolutely magical. I too didn’t know they came in sets! Research must be done.
Also shout out to your Dragonlance collection!
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_History_of_Middle-earth_2023-24_Box_Sets
The 15 volumes in total are divided into four sets. They are to be published separately throughout 2024.
Set 1
1. The Silmarillion
2. Unfinished Tales
3. The Book of Lost Tales: Part One
4. The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two
Set 2
1. The Lays of Beleriand
2. The Shaping of Middle-earth
3. The Lost Road and Other Writings
Set 3
1. The Return of the Shadow
2. The Treason of Isengard
3. The War of the Ring
4. Sauron Defeated
Set 4
1. Morgoth's Ring
2. The War of the Jewels
3. The Peoples of Middle-earth
4. Index
Ugh. That’s awesome. Gotta have them now! Mainly because I dont even have (or have heard of) most of those! Interesting that Children of Húrin isn't in any of these sets. I feel like it was a long enough book alone to not have been incorporated into one of these…
Edit Appears to be a 5th and final set, outside "The History of Middle Earth":
The Children of Húrin
Beren and Lúthien
The Fall of Gondolin
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0358003911
Significantly less expensive than the others. Those also appear to be the final three books edited by Christopher Tolkien.
Three more books follow:
The Nature of Middle-earth, edited by Carl F. Hostetter.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Nature_of_Middle-earth
"Its many texts discuss a variety of topics related to Middle-earth, such as its "nature" and landscapes, the characteristics of different races, theology, and many other miscellaneous matters in Tolkien's legendarium. Most of them were previously unpublished material, but some had been already published in the linguistic journals Parma Eldalamberon and Vinyar Tengwar."
The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Fall_of_N%C3%BAmenor
"The texts were previously published in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, and The Nature of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien and Carl F. Hostetter. No new material by Tolkien is presented in this book."
The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, edited by Peter Grybauskas.
"The book presents for the first time Tolkien's own prose translation of "The Battle of Maldon", a 10-century Old English poem about a real world battle, together with the poem The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, an imaginary sequel to the Battle. Also included is a previously unpublished lecture "The Tradition of Versification in Old English", which deals with the nature of poetic tradition."
Looks like parts of it are in this set, but this book is it's own thing.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Children_of_H%C3%BArin
"A brief version of the story formed the base of Chapter 21 of The Silmarillion, setting the tale in the context of the wars of Beleriand. Although based on the same texts used to complete the new book, Christopher Tolkien abridged the tale to avoid overcharging his edition.
Other incomplete versions have been published in previous publications:
The "Narn i Hîn Húrin" in Unfinished Tales.
Items in The History of Middle-earth series, including:
"Turambar and the Foalókë", from The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two
"The Lay of the Children of Húrin" (a narrative poem), from The Lays of Beleriand
None of these writings forms a complete and mature narrative. The published Children of Húrin is essentially a synthesis of the Narn and of the account found in The Silmarillion."