Here's a rare recording of J. R. R. Tolkien himself reciting from The Lord of th...

Here's a rare recording of J. R. R. Tolkien himself reciting from The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was feeling discouraged in the summer of 1952, as his fantasy epic had been rejected by yet another publisher. In August of that year, Tolkien's friend George Sayer brought out the tape recorder one day, asking JRRT to read a few choice passages from LOTR.

Tolkien had never seen a tape recorder before and thought it was vaguely sinister. He even suggested that he should say the Lord's Prayer over it to cast out any unclean spirits. This he did (quoting in Old Gothic, an extinct language which virtually no one else on Earth could read, much less speak). Tolkien turned out to be a wonderful reader of his own works. And his discouragement was short-lived, as LOTR sold more than 3 million copies in his lifetime and has sold many more millions since his passing in 1973.


J.R.R. Tolkien recites the Ring Verse
This is a recording of J.R.R. Tolkien reciting the Ring Verse, from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Shadow of the Past'. "Three rings for the Elven-kings under t...