The Book of Lost Tales does not only show us Tolkien's world in its early stages of development. It does much more: The text is accompanied by a very deliberate commentary by Christopher Tolkien who put great effort into presenting and explaining the various traces of thought by his father as good as possible.

For the regular reader who seeks regular Tolkien literature this is a difficult text to read at times: The commentaries disrupt the stories' flow and distance the reader from it by means of their meta-work. On the other hand do the Silmarillions contents appear much more connected here, for J.R.R. Tolkien framed them with a contextual story in which the "old tales" were embedded.

I recommend this book to everyone who
1. seeks to dive into the depths and history of Tolkien's creative work.
2. wants to experience an earlier version of the Silmarillion with many (discarded?) details that aren't present in the published form

El Libro De Los Cuentos Perdidos 1.- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Encuentro aquí un insistente mensaje siempre cercano
 en medio de la Tierra de los Elfos marchitos
 (Alalminórë en los Reinos de Faery);
 aquí girando lentamente en un dulce lamento
 se demoran las hadas sagradas, los elfos inmortales
 entonando un canto de desmayado anhelo"


El marinero Eriol emprende un viaje hacia el Oeste, cuyo destino es la isla Tol Eressëa que es en donde viven los elfos. Una vez allí conoce Los Cuentos Perdidos de Elfinesse, con historias sobre Dioses, la creación del mundo, Elfos, enanos, gestas heroicas y también oscura maldad.

Acá empezó todo….
El Libro De Los Cuentos Perdidos, fue la primer gran obra de Tolkien, escrita a los 25 años de edad durante la primer Guerra Mundial. En estas historias se puede leer la génesis de lo que luego fue El Silmarillion.

Christopher Tolkien editó este material que su padre escribió a lápiz, en su mayoría, en distintos cuadernos. Con la meticulosidad habitual de los libros editados por Christopher, se presentan los cuentos con una introducción sobre el material de origen y luego un análisis del mismo, incluyendo a veces material complementario como por ejemplo poemas (a veces más de una versión del poema en cuestión) relacionados con el cuento. Esto ayuda a ponernos en contexto y también asociar los hechos aquí relatados con lo que luego se conoce en El Silmarillion.

Sin dudas, este un libro que se disfruta mucho más si uno leyó El Silmarillion previamente; solo así creo que es posible tomar conciencia de la enorme imaginación y la dedicación para con su arte de J.R.R. Tolkien.

Okay, this is kind of tough to rate. If I could split hairs on this I would only rate it 3.5, but ultimately this is Tolkien, whose ideas become the genesis of so much I enjoyed from childhood on (D&D, high fantasy, sword and sorcery, you get the idea), it gets rounded up to 4. If it were just Tolkien's work, it would be a solid 4, even though I confess there was a lot of it that did not absorb for me on my first reading here. (I usually have to read a Tolkien volume 3 times before I feel like I really have a grasp of it.)

And that's where I really thought this particular volume fell short--the "editing" by Christopher Tolkien. I was hoping that would offer a more cogent analysis, something more clearly and concisely written that might help me navigate through some of the denser ideas. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what Christopher Tolkien set out to do. But I needed the commentary to be more cogent than it was. And in looking at his own author profile I now have a better understanding as to what he was up against trying to bring materials written long-hand on paper, erased, then written over again on the same paper. So I get it. It was a monumental task. I just found it a bit dense too and it would have been more helpful if it had been like the commentary on the movies. (That's just my opinion). For example, I found the discussions about gnomes problematic and did not answer some of the most basic questions that popped into my head.

Another issue I had was one that I really can't fault anyone but the publisher. In several instances they try to draw comparisons to storylines or content that was also in the Silmarillion. They would cite to a page in the Silmarillion for reference. How they thought that would be helpful when there are so many versions and publications and republications is beyond me. There's no way I would be able to track down the material to which they were actually citing.

At some point I will re-read this, I'm sure.

This will be my 12-volume write-up of the entire series "The History of Middle Earth".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This series is ONLY for the hardcore Tolkien fanatic. Predominantly written by
JRR's son, based on JRR's notes on the creation of The Silmarilion and
The Lord of the Rings (much less on The Hobbit). It is somewhat interesting to
see the evolution of the story (for example, "Strider" was originally conceived as
a Hobbit (one of those who "went off into the blue with Gandalf" as alluded to
in The Hobbit).

But the downside to this is that it isn't very fun to read. You can only read yet
another version of Beren and Luthien so many times before you're tired of seeing
the miniscule changes from one version to the next.

So, overall, I slogged through this over about a year. I'd say it was worth it
in the end for someone like me who loves Tolkien and his entire created world
of Arda (and Ea in general). But I'll never re-read them. They come off too much
as seeming like Christopher Tolkien just bundled every scrap of paper he could find,
rather than thinning them down into a logical consistency.

The Book of Lost Tales, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth #1), J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse material relating to the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien.

The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of Middle-earth as a fictional place with its own peoples, languages, and history, from his earliest notions of a "mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.

It is not a "history of Middle-earth" in the sense of being a chronicle of events in Middle-earth written from an in-universe perspective; it is instead an out-of-universe history of Tolkien's creative process.

In the Tales are found the earliest accounts and original ideas of Gods and Elves; Dwarves and Orcs; the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; Nargothrond and Gondolin; and the geography and cosmology of the invented world.

Book one Chapters:
The Cottage of Lost Play — the framework story,
The Music of the Ainur — the first version of what would become the Ainulindalë,
The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor — later Valaquenta and first chapters of Quenta Silmarillion,
The Chaining of Melko — Melko is an earlier name of Melkor,
The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr — Kôr is the later Tirion and its hill Túna,
The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor,
The Flight of the Noldoli — Noldoli are the Elves later called Noldor,
The Tale of the Sun and Moon,
The Hiding of Valinor,
and Gilfanon's Tale: The Travail of the Noldoli and the Coming of Mankind.

‎The Book of Lost Tales (‎The History of Middle-Earth‬, #1), by ‎J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Christopher Tolkien‬, New York‬: ‎A Del Rey Book‬ , ‎1992 = 1371‬.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و پنجم ماه ژانویه سال2010میلادی

عنوان: داستانهای فراموش شده (قسمت اول)؛ نویسنده: جی.آر.آر تالکین؛ ادیتور: کریستوفر تالکین؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده20م

کتاب «داستانهای فراموش شده: قسمت اول» عنوان نخسین کتاب از سری «تاریخ سرزمین میانه»، به تاریخ انتشار ماه اکتبر سال1983میلادی در انگلستان، و ماه فوریه سال1984میلادی در آمریکا بوده، که به تصورات و ایده های نخستین «تالکین» از دنیایی که بعدها با تغییرات فراوان، در کتابهای منتشر شده اش میتوان دید، پرداخته اند، همچو نامهای نخستین شخصیتها، جزئیات بزرگ و کوچک داستان، و هر آنچه در دست نوشته های وی، در این بخش یافت میشده، دوباره به چاپ رسیده است؛ داستانهای کتاب از دید شخصی که مدتها پیش برای دانستن داستانهای باستانی «الف»ها، و دیگر موجودات، به جزیره ای فراموش شده، سفر کرده، دنبال میشود؛ او در جزیره، کلبه ی «نمایشنامه های از دست رفته» را پیدا میکند، و به همراه خوانشگر با دنیای «تالکین (البته در شکل و ظاهر نخستین آن)» به صورت داستانواره آشنا میشود

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 03/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 14/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

It's Tolkien, I love it. (:

People who have enjoyed The Lord of the Rings often stumble when they turn to The Silmarillion, since the two works are so different in tone and perspective. The books in The History of Middle-Earth series are different again. They contain sixty years of stories we've never seen before because Tolkien abandoned them completely, as well as abandoned, early versions of the stories we have met elsewhere. These books are the archaeology of Tolkien's subcreation of Middle-Earth. Through alternating passages of text, notes, and commentary, Christopher Tolkien lays out how his father developed this world, tale by tale and word by word.

If that sounds interesting to you, then you may well find great pleasure in The Book of Lost Tales and the other books in this series. I know I have. That's not just because I have always been a big fan of Tolkien, but because I have also always been someone who studies books as much as I read books. I found it fascinating to discover how his conceptions of this world and these tales changed over time.

If you do decide to give this book a try, I'd suggest you also lend an ear to the Mythgard Academy's free online course on this book, which is available from Mythgard's website and iTunes, and is terrific. Even for the knowledgeable fan, it's nice to have an expert guide along.

This is the first volume of Tolkien's short stories that I've read and although I enjoyed the stories themselves I did miss his usual epic endings (many of the stories here are incomplete hints at greatness) and I wasn't so keen on the lengthy notes and commentary. I think I would've preferred something more concise with each tale and longer notes to the back where I could refer to them if I wanted to. That's just my preference though and I'm sure many will love the length and detail of these. Still I'm glad I read these and will certainly look out for the second volume of lost tales as well as the rest of the History of Middle-earth series.

The fact that there are lost Tolkien writings that actually PREDATE these early Middle-earth legends is truly insane to me. He really spent his whole life developing this universe.

While I wish I had gotten to the History of Middle-Earth series sooner, I am glad to now have so much more Tolkien stuff to read. Seeing his developing ideas evolve is a great glimpse into his mind. It's also interesting to see the languages evolving - in early form, they appear to show much more of the Finnish influence.

This is essentially a collection of stories of Tolkien's first conceptions of Middle Earth, and of which are told to Eriol, who found the realm of Valinor. This book centres on some of the content that is in The Silmarillion, and it was really interesting to remind myself of that whilst reading this first volume.

I think it is all fascinating- anything connected to Middle Earth I'm here for, and this book was a lot to digest. For the hardcore Tolkien fan it's like a dream, although, even I found it a little trying at times, and I found myself reading over passages in order to understand.

What I personally loved was the little notes that Tolkien had wrote, ideas that had suddenly sprung to mind or something to possibly include in a future book. Christopher Tolkien certainly had a lot of work to do, unravelling his Father's works to something more readable, and I'm very happy he did.

"E magari non si fosse mai avvicinato in seguito, e io avessi potuto vedere quella terra, mentre ancora splendeva nuova come Aulë l'aveva lasciata".
Primo di (forse) dodici volumi dedicati alla storia della Terra di Mezzo… e come essa si è sviluppata ed evoluta nella mente, nelle intenzioni e negli scritti del suo genio creatore: J.R.R. Tolkien.
Sembra un vero e proprio testo da studio accademico e, in tutta sincerità, proprio per questo ho fatto molta fatica a portarne a termine la lettura. Per carità, la narrazione scorre bene; il problema è dato dalle ripetute (ed asfissianti) interruzioni del figlio Christopher che, nel tentativo di spiegare cosa aveva in mente il padre, ne appesantisce (e ne dilunga) di molto la lettura.
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