The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two

The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two
Publication Information
Author	J.R.R. Tolkien
Editor	Christopher Tolkien
Publisher	George Allen and Unwin (UK) Houghton Mifflin (US)
Released	16 August 1984 (UK) 26 November 1984 (US)
Format	Hardcover; paperback
Pages	385
ISBN	0048232653
Preceded by	The Book of Lost Tales: Part One (1983)
Followed by	The Lays of Beleriand (1985)

The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two, published in 1984, is the second volume of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume book series, The History of Middle-earth, in which he analyzes the unpublished manuscripts of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The book is the continuation of The Book of Lost Tales: Part One. It includes the first forms of the tales of Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, the Necklace of the Dwarves, and the Fall of Gondolin. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.

Contents

• Preface

• I. "The Tale of Tinúviel" — first version of the tale of Beren and Lúthien

• II."Turambar and the Foalókë" — first version of the Túrin saga

• III. "The Fall of Gondolin" — the only full narrative of the Fall of Gondolin

• IV. "The Nauglafring" — tale of the Dwarven necklace known as the Nauglamír

• V. "The Tale of Eärendel" — the only full narrative of Eärendil's travels

• VI. "The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales" — an essay about the changes in the framework, and the "unwritten" tales

• Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales - Part II

• Index

Inscriptions

There is an inscription in the Tengwar characters in the first pages of every History of Middle-earth volume, written by Christopher Tolkien and describing the contents of the book. The inscription in Book II reads:

"This is the second part of the Book of the Lost Tales of Elfinesse which Eriol the Mariner learned from the Elves of Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle in the western ocean, and afterwards wrote in the Golden Book of Tavrobel. Herein are told the Tales of Beren and Tinúviel, of Turambar, of the Fall of Gondolin, and of the Necklace of the Dwarves."

From the publisher

The second of a two-book set that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien’s epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.
This second part of The Book of Lost Tales includes the tale of Beren and Lúthien, Túrin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin, itself the finest and most exciting depiction of a battle that Tolkien ever wrote. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with texts of associated poems, and contains extensive information on names and vocabulary in the earliest Elvish languages.

Publication history and gallery

UK editions

• 

  1984 hardcover

• 

  1986 paperback

• 

  1986 paperback 3rd impression

• 

  1991 hardcover

• 

  1995 paperback

• 

  2002 & 2015 paperback

• 

  2010 hardcover

• 

  2023 hardcover

• 

  2024 paperback

• George Allen & Unwin, hardcover (1984), pp. 385. ISBN 0048232653
• Unicorn / Unwin Paperbacks, paperback (1986), ISBN 0048233382 - (cover art by Roger Garland)
  • 1986 paperback edition, 3rd impression (1988)
• HarperCollins hardcover (1991), ISBN 0261102133
• HarperCollins paperback (1995), ISBN 0261102141 - (cover art by John Howe)
  • 1995 paperback edition, reset in 2002, then in 2015
• HarperCollins hardcover (2010), ISBN 0007365268
• HarperCollins hardcover with reversable dustjacket (2023), ISBN 978-0008663155 - (Centenary Boxed Sets #1)
  • 2015 paperback edition, 38th impression (2024)

External links

• A content guide for this volume at Tolkienbooks.net