The Histories of Middle-earth, Volumes 1–5

J.R.R. Tolkien | Edited by Christopher Tolkien | Del Rey / Ballantine Books

A handsome five-volume boxed collection of the opening books in J.R.R. Tolkien's monumental History of Middle-earth, edited from Tolkien's manuscripts by his son Christopher Tolkien.

The set contains:

• The Book of Lost Tales, Part One

• The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

• The Lays of Beleriand

• The Shaping of Middle-earth

• The Lost Road and Other Writings

• 
  

Together, these volumes explore the earliest development of Tolkien's mythology, including early versions of stories, characters, languages and legends that would eventually become The Silmarillion and the wider mythology of Middle-earth.

Published by Del Rey/Ballantine Books, these are later printings of the American paperback editions, housed together in the original illustrated slipcase. The individual volumes feature colorful Tolkien artwork by John Howe and Andrew Burward-Hoy.