J. R. R. Tolkien bibliography

This is a list of all the published works of the English writer and philologist J. R. R. Tolkien, including works published posthumously.

A selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's work

Fiction

Middle-earth

• 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
• 1954–1955 The Lord of the Rings
  1. The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
  2. The Two Towers (1954)
  3. The Return of the King (1955)

Poetry books

• 1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book
• 1967 The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, with Donald Swann

Posthumous

• 1974 Bilbo's Last Song (at the Grey Havens)
• 1975 "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" (edited version) published in A Tolkien Compass by Jared Lobdell. Written for use by translators of The Lord of the Rings, a full version, re-titled "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings," was published in 2005 in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
• 1977 The Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien with the assistance of Guy Gavriel Kay.
• 1980 Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth edited by Christopher Tolkien
• 1983–1996 The History of Middle-earth compiled and edited by Christopher Tolkien (a combined index of the series was published in 2002):
  1. The Book of Lost Tales Part One (1983)
  2. The Book of Lost Tales Part Two (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 (The History of The Lord of the Rings vol. 1) (1988)
  7. The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings vol. 2) (1989)
  8. The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings vol. 3) (1990)
  9. Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings vol. 4) (1992) including The Notion Club Papers
  10. Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion vol. 1) (1993)
  11. The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion vol. 2) (1994)
  12. The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)
• 2005 "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" (full version) published in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. Re-titled to "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in this book. Written for use by translators of The Lord of the Rings; an edited version was Lobdell 1975 (above).
• 2007 The Children of Húrin edited by Christopher Tolkien
• 2007 The History of The Hobbit by John D. Rateliff – contains substantial text fragments
• 2017 Beren and Lúthien edited by Christopher Tolkien^[1]
• 2018 The Fall of Gondolin edited by Christopher Tolkien^[2]
• 2021 The Nature of Middle-earth edited by Carl F. Hostetter^[3]
• 2022 The Fall of Númenor edited by Brian Sibley^[4]
• 2024 The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond

Short works

• 1945 "Leaf by Niggle" (short story), published in The Dublin Review
• 1945 The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (poem), published in The Welsh Review
• 1949 Farmer Giles of Ham (medieval fable)
• 1953 The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (a play written in alliterative verse), published with the accompanying essays Beorhtnoth's Death and Ofermod, in Essays and Studies by members of the English Association, volume 6.
• 1964 Tree and Leaf (On Fairy-Stories and Leaf by Niggle in book form)
• 1966 The Tolkien Reader (The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, On Fairy-Stories, Leaf by Niggle, Farmer Giles of Ham, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil)
• 1967 Smith of Wootton Major (short story), published as an illustrated chapbook

Poetry

Main article: Tolkien's poetry

Further information: Poetry in The Lord of the Rings

• Goblin Feet 1915-c. 1923
• Bagmē Blōma (Songs for the Philologists) c. 1924 ^[a]
• Fastitocalon ?1927-61 or 62
• Oliphaunt ?1927-61 or 62
• The Adventures of Tom Bombadil c. 1931-62
• Bilbo's Last Song ?1931-c. 1960
• Errantry c. 1931-62
• The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë c. 1931-62
• The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son 1931-53
• Guðrúnarkviða en nýja eða Dráp Niflunga
• The Sea-Bell c. 1932 or 33-1961
• "walking-songs" (The Lord of the Rings), 1938-54

Academic and other works

• 1919–1920 contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary, described in The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
• 1922 A Middle English Vocabulary, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 168 pp.
• 1925 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, co-edited with E.V. Gordon, Oxford University Press, 211 pp.; Revised edition 1967, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 232 pp.
• 1925 Some Contributions to Middle-English Lexicography, published in The Review of English Studies, volume 1, no, 2, pp, 210–215.
• 1925 The Devil's Coach Horses, published in The Review of English Studies, volume 1, no, 3, pp, 331–336.
• 1929 Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad, published in Essays and Studies by members of the English Association, Oxford, volume 14, pp, 104–126.
• 1932 The Name 'Nodens', concerning the name Nodens, published in Report on the Excavation of the Prehistoric, Roman, and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, Oxford, University Press for The Society of Antiquaries.
• 1932–1934 Sigelwara Land parts I and II, in Medium Aevum, Oxford, volume 1, no, 3 (December 1932), pp, 183–196 and volume 3, no, 2 (June 1934), pp, 95–111.
• 1934 Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale, in Transactions of the Philological Society, London, pp, 1–70 (rediscovery of dialect humour, introducing the Hengwrt manuscript into textual criticism of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales)
• 1937 Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, London, Humphrey Milford, 56 pp. (publication of his 1936 lecture on Beowulf criticism)
• 1939 The Reeve's Tale: version prepared for recitation at the 'summer diversions', Oxford, 14 pp.
• 1939 On Fairy-Stories (1939 Andrew Lang lecture) – concerning Tolkien's philosophy on fantasy, this lecture was a shortened version of an essay later published in full in 1947.
• 1940 Prefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of "Beowulf", in Clark Hall's Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment, Revised edition 1940, pp.ix-xliii, London, George Allen & Unwin (later published as the essay On Translating Beowulf)
• 1944 Sir Orfeo, Oxford, The Academic Copying Office, 18 pp. (an edition of the medieval poem)
• 1947 On Fairy-Stories (essay – published in Essays presented to Charles Williams, Oxford University Press) – first full publication of an essay concerning Tolkien's philosophy on fantasy, and which had been presented in shortened form as the 1939 Andrew Lang lecture.
• 1953 Ofermod and Beorhtnoth's Death, two essays published with the poem The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son in Essays and Studies by members of the English Association, volume 6.
• 1953 Middle English "Losenger": Sketch of an etymological and semantic enquiry, published in Essais de philologie moderne: Communications présentées au Congrès International de Philologie Moderne (1951), Les Belles Lettres.
• 1958 The Old English Apollonius of Tyre, Oxford University Press – editorial prefatory note
• 1962 Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle, Early English Text Society, Oxford University Press.
• 1963 English and Welsh, in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures, University of Cardiff Press.
• 1964 Introduction to Tree and Leaf, with details of the composition and history of Leaf by Niggle and On Fairy-Stories.
• 1966 Contributions to the Jerusalem Bible (as translator and lexicographer)
• 1966 Foreword to the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings, with his comments on the varied reaction to his work, his motivation for writing the work, and his opinion of allegory.
• 1966 Tolkien on Tolkien (autobiographical)
• 1969 The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor^[b]

Posthumous publications

For essays and text fragments by Tolkien published posthumously in academic publications and forums, see Tolkien research.

• 1975 Translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo
• 1976 The Father Christmas Letters. Edited by Baillie Tolkien, a daughter-in-law of Tolkien
• 1980 Poems and Stories (a compilation of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, On Fairy-Stories, Leaf by Niggle, Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major)
• 1981 The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien and Humphrey Carpenter)
• 1981 The Old English "Exodus" Text, translation and commentary by J. R. R. Tolkien; edited by Joan Turville-Petre. Clarendon Press, Oxford
• 1982 Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode
• 1982 Mr. Bliss
• 1983 The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays (an essay collection)
  • "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" (1936)
  • "On Translating Beowulf" (1940)
  • "On Fairy-Stories" (1947)
  • "A Secret Vice" (1930)
  • "English and Welsh" (1955)
• 1995 J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator – a compilation of Tolkien's artwork
• 1998 Roverandom
• 2002 A Tolkien Miscellany – (a compilation of Smith of Wootton Major, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Tree and Leaf, and Tolkien's translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo)
• 2002 Beowulf and the Critics edited by Michael D.C. Drout (Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics together with two drafts of the longer essay from which it was condensed)
• 2008 Tales from the Perilous Realm (a compilation of Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Smith of Wootton Major, Leaf by Niggle and On Fairy-Stories)
• 2009 The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
• 2013 The Fall of Arthur (a narrative poem about King Arthur of Britain)^[5]
• 2014 Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary (edited by Christopher Tolkien; includes "Sellic Spell")^[6]
• 2014 "The Book of Jonah", his translation prior to final editing for the Jerusalem Bible, in Journal of Inklings Studies, 4.2: 5-9.
• 2015 The Story of Kullervo (edited by Verlyn Flieger)^[7]
• 2016 A Secret Vice
• 2016 The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, originally published in Welsh Review, 1945
• 2023 The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
• 2025 The Bovadium Fragments: together with The Origin of Bovadium^[c] (edited by Christopher Tolkien, with an historical essay by Richard Ovenden)

Constructed languages

A large volume of Tolkien's writings on his constructed languages, primarily the Elvish languages such as Quenya and Sindarin, have been published and annotated by scholars in the journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon.

• 1989 "The Plotz Quenya Declensions", first published in part in the fanzine Beyond Bree, and later in full in Vinyar Tengwar 6, p, 14.
• 1991 "Koivieneni Sentence" in Vinyar Tengwar 14, pp, 5–20.
• 1992 "New Tengwar Inscription" in Vinyar Tengwar 21, p, 6.
• 1992 "Liège Tengwar Inscription" in Vinyar Tengwar 23, p, 16.
• 1993 "Two Trees Sentence" in Vinyar Tengwar 27, pp, 7–42.
• 1993 "Koivieneni Manuscript" in Vinyar Tengwar 27, pp, 7–42.
• 1993 "The Bodleian Declensions", in Vinyar Tengwar 28, pp, 9–34.
• 1994 "The Entu Declension" in Vinyar Tengwar 36, pp, 8–29.
• 1995 "Gnomish Lexicon", Parma Eldalamberon 11.
• 1995 "Rúmilian Document" in Vinyar Tengwar 37, pp, 15–23.
• 1998 "Qenya Lexicon" Parma Eldalamberon 12.
• 1998 "Osanwe-kenta, Enquiry into the communication of thought", Vinyar Tengwar 39
• 1998 "From Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D." Vinyar Tengwar 39, pp, 4–20.
• 1999 "Narqelion", Vinyar Tengwar 40, pp, 5–32
• 2000 "Etymological Notes: Osanwe-kenta" Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp, 5–6
• 2000 "From The Shibboleth of Fëanor" (written ca. 1968) Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp, 7–10 (A part of the Shibboleth of Fëanor was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, pp, 331–366)
• 2000 "Notes on Óre" Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp, 11–19
• 2000 "Merin Sentence" Tyalie Tyalieva 14, pp, 32–35
• 2001 "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (written 1967–1969) Vinyar Tengwar 42, pp, 5–31.
• 2001 "Essay on negation in Quenya" Vinyar Tengwar 42, pp, 33–34.
• 2001 "Goldogrim Pronominal Prefixes" Parma Eldalamberon 13 p, 97.
• 2001 "Early Noldorin Grammar", Parma Eldalamberon 13, pp, 119–132.
• 2002 "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part One), Vinyar Tengwar 43:
  • "Ataremma" (Pater Noster in Quenya) versions I-VI, pp. 4–26
  • "Aia María" (Ave Maria in Quenya) versions I-IV, pp. 26–36
  • "Alcar i Ataren" (Gloria Patri in Quenya), pp, 36–38
• 2002 "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part Two), Vinyar Tengwar 44:
  • "Litany of Loreto" in Quenya, pp. 11–20.
  • "Ortírielyanna" (Sub tuum praesidium in Quenya), pp. 5–11
  • "Alcar mi tarmenel na Erun" (Gloria in Excelsis Deo in Quenya), pp. 31–38.
  • "Ae Adar Nín" (Pater Noster in Sindarin) Vinyar Tengwar 44, pp. 21–30.
• 2003 "Early Qenya Fragments", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2003 "Early Qenya Grammar", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2003 "The Valmaric Scripts", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2004 "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", edited by Smith, Gilson, Wynne, and Welden, Parma Eldalamberon 15.
• 2005 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part One)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 47, pp, 3–43.
• 2005 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Two)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 48, pp, 4–34.
• 2006 "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", Part 1, edited by Smith, Parma Eldalamberon 16.
• 2006 "Early Elvish Poetry: Oilima Markirya, Nieninqe and Earendel", edited by Gilson, Welden, and Hostetter, Parma Eldalamberon 16
• 2006 "Qenya Declensions", "Qenya Conjugations", "Qenya Word-lists", edited by Gilson, Hostetter, Wynne, Parma Eldalamberon 16
• 2007 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Three)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp, 3–37.
• 2007 "Five Late Quenya Volitive Inscriptions." Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp, 38–58.
• 2007 "Ambidexters Sentence", Vinyar Tengwar 49
• 2007 "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", edited by Gilson, Parma Eldalamberon 17.
• 2009 "Tengwesta Qenderinwa", edited by Gilson, Smith and Wynne, Parma Eldalamberon 18.
• 2009 "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 2", Parma Eldalamberon 18.
• 2010 "Quenya Phonology", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
• 2010 "Comparative Tables", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
• 2010 "Outline of Phonetic Development", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
• 2010 "Outline of Phonology", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
• 2012 "The Quenya Alphabet", Parma Eldalamberon 20.
• 2013 "The "Túrin Wrapper"", Vinyar Tengwar 50
• 2013 "Qenya: Declension of Nouns", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
• 2013 "Primitive Quendian: Final Consonants", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
• 2013 "Common Eldarin: Noun Structure", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
• 2015 "The Fëanorian Alphabet, Part 1", Parma Eldalamberon 22.
• 2015 "Quenya Verb Structure", Parma Eldalamberon 22.
• 2024 "The Fëanorian Alphabet, Part 2", Parma Eldalamberon 23.
• 2024 "Eldarin Pronouns", Parma Eldalamberon 23.

Audio recordings

• 1967 Poems and Songs of Middle-earth, Caedmon TC 1231
• 1975 J. R. R. Tolkien Reads and Sings His The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Caedmon TC 1477, TC 1478 (based on an August 1952 recording by George Sayer)

Art

• 1979 Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien, George Allen & Unwin, text by Christopher Tolkien, ISBN 0047410035. 2nd edition 1992.
• 1995 J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (text by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull)
• 2011 The Art of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (text by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull)
• 2015 The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (text by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull)

See also

• J. R. R. Tolkien § Writing
• Tolkien research
• Translations of The Lord of the Rings
• Translations of The Hobbit
• Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien

Notes

1. Included in Shippey, Tom. The Road to Middle-Earth, Grafton, 1992. pp 303–309
2. This essay was not finished and has never been published in its entirety, although parts of it were published in Unfinished Tales, and the remaining parts were published in the periodical Vinyar Tengwar, issue number 42 in 2001.
3. Bo[s] is Latin for "ox", while vadum is Latin for "ford", hence Oxford.