"In the Tolkien Tradition"

So, pulling my books off the shelf yesterday to check something before hitting send on my most recent post, I noticed the blurb slipped just below the author's name on the front cover of this one. For those who can't see the small type, here's what it says:

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

ALAN GARNER

A fantastic novel in the Tolkien tradition

"A prime favorite of mine."

--ANDRE NORTON 

It's the  ' in the Tolkien tradition' part that's interesting. This book (a 1960 Ace paperback) must have been among the first, if not the first, to try to sell a fantasy novel by claiming on the cover that it was like Tolkien or the next Tolkien or that  if you liked Tolkien, you'll love . . .

I wonder how many books have borne some version of that line over the years. Dozens? A hundred? More?  

But to see if so early -- for a book published in 1954-56 to already be used as a milestone/marker in 1960 strikes me as extraordinary, and once again drives home the point that there's only one Tolkien, and his impact was early, massive, and enduring.

--John R.

--current reading: KA by John Crowley