The Book of Ishness

"We have a long way to go, and there is time ahead for thought." — Treebeard This article is in the early stages of construction and should not be viewed as complete, or even close to being finished.

The Book of Ishness was a sketchbook, begun by J.R.R. Tolkien on 6 January 1914, where he collected illustrations devoted to "imaginative subjects".^[1]

John D. Rateliff has suggested that Tolkien's creation of the word ishness might have been inspired by a passage in chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "did you ever see a thing as a drawing of a muchness!".^[2]

[edit] External links

• The Book of Ishness presented by the Tolkien Estate
• The Book of Phobias and The Book of Ishness by John D. Rateliff

References

1. ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 49
2. ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 65 (note 13)