The History of Middle-earth (Boxed Set 3): The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, The War of the Ring & Sauron Defeated (The History of Middle-earth) Christopher Tolkien 9780008669294

Third in a series of hardcover boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 3 contains The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, The War of the Ring, and Sauron Defeated (Books 6-9 of The History of Middle-earth).

The Return of the Shadow is the story of the first part of the history of the creation of The Lord of the Rings, a fascinating study of Tolkien's great masterpiece, from its inception to the end of the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, tracing the great expansion of the tale into new lands and peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emergence of Lothlorien, of Ents, of the Riders of Rohan, and of Saruman the White in the fortress of Isengard.

The War of the Ringtakes up the story with the Battle of Helm's Deep and the drowning of Isengard by the Ents, continues with the journey of Frodo, Sam and Gollum to the Pass of Cirith Ungol, describes the war in Gondor, and ends with the parley between Gandalf and the ambassador of the Dark Lord before the Black Gate of Mordor.

Sauron Defeated completes Christopher Tolkien's fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings, beginning with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, with many additional scenes and the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety.

Published together for the first time, these four books collect a fascinating period of Christopher Tolkien's forty-year career devoted to presenting his father J.R.R. Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth, a unique accomplishment that celebrates the greatest invented world in all of fantasy literature.

John Howe was born in 1957 in Vancouver, Canada. He moved to France in 1976 and gained a Diploma in Illustration at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs de Strasbourg in 1981. He has illustrated many French children's books, but is best known for his Tolkien calendars, book jackets, maps and posters. In 1998 he spent over a year in New Zealand working as Conceptual Artist on Peter Jackson's acclaimed The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. In 2009 he returned to New Zealand to work on the The Hobbit movie trilogy.

'The pure imaginative power of J.R.R. Tolkien shines through ... an excellent example of the creative imagination at work.' Baltimore Sun

'Frodo, Gandalf and the rest will never ride out to new adventures - saddening legions of us around the world... But the history of Middle-earth is still unfolding. Anyone loving the original books will want to study this.' Daily Mail

'Christopher Tolkien's painstaking scholarship continues to impress.' Kirkus Reviews

'An opportunity, rarely granted readers, to see the creative process at work.' Hartford Courant