Mr. Bliss

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Mr. Bliss's first outing in his new motor-car, shared with several friends, bears, dogs, and a donkey, though not the Girabbit, proves to be unconventional though not inexpensive.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Picture Books, Audiobook, Humor

107 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.

Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.

Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of Tolkien’s writings are child friendly, and none more so than this. If anything, of all his works, this is the one aimed at the youngest reading audience. It is a very simple story full of humour and silly mishaps. It was certainly entertaining to read in parts, but as a child I know I would have liked it more.

It lacks that universal quality that some children’s literature possesses, an ability to speak to all readers of any age. We were all children once and we can all relate to the themes explored in such books, but for me this didn’t possess such strength. The tale follows Mr Bliss as he buys a motor car, crashes into several people, gets robbed by bears, crashes a soup garden party (yes a soup garden party) whist the victims and culprits turn up demanding payment for his misdeeds. Essentially, it’s a very brief book about a Mr Bean like character (without the ingenuity) who causes all manner of mayhem.

It relies on slapstick style comedy to get laughs, and Tolkien can do much better: he did do much better. Tolkien writes humour well when he explores the nuances of his world and such ironic moments that occur when some characters meet for the first time. In those cases it feels effortless, natural even. This, however, was forced and cheap. Granted, I’m much older than the target audience, but I have read a lot of children’s literature in the past and enjoyed it immensely. As much as it hurts me to say it, this is weak writing.

I bought this book because it was written by Tolkien (one of my favourite writers) but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Not everything he wrote was a dazzling jewel straight out of the depths of Erebor. I only recommend it for serious Tolkien fans or young children.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 4 out of 5]

A librarian and I were scouring the junior novels shelves for things to encourage my lad's reading interest when I spotted this book. What a joy to discover a Tolkien book I didn't know existed! The librarian was technically only a coincidental part of that but librarians deserve full credit in all scenarios.

Mr. Bliss: a skinny man who wears tall hats, and also a book fully hand-crafted by Tolkien for his children. It only saw posthumous publication. It is full of silliness.

This HarperCollins edition presents an altered form of the book foremost, with a portrait orientation that sometimes mars the images with the book crease (see photos below for an example), but includes the original perspective also. Originally it was handwritten in landscape format; think a picture book wider than it is tall. This is included in the flipside. Because the handwriting on the originals is sometimes difficult to read, the facing pages in this section reproduce them in type. The original is wonderfully laid out, and the cross-outs for errors add to its charm.

I would love to see it in a full-size picture book format.

My boy got a laugh out of the girabbit because it's just so silly and presented with no context.





Am I right? Does the crease kind of spoil it? It's still quite charming.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a self-confessed Tolkien nut but this was a book I'm sure even neutrals would love.

It's a beautifully illustrated and quirky children's book, the pictures drawn by Tolkien himself. Not just a great writer but a talented artist also!

What a contrast to Middle-earth and the tales of good and evil. I'm in awe at the scope of Tolkien's imagination, always have been, and how easily he could switch between different fantasy realms and writing for different age groups. I'd love to write a children's book and read it to my kids one day.

The eccentric Mr Bliss is highly recommended.

[leynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Bliss is a children's picture book by J. R. R. Tolkien, published posthumously in book form in 1982. One of Tolkien's least-known short works, it tells the story of Mr. Bliss and his first ride in his new motor-car. Many adventures follow: encounters with bears, angry neighbours, irate shopkeepers, and assorted collisions. The story was inspired by Tolkien's own vehicular mishaps with his first car, purchased in 1932. [Tolkien's dislike for industrialisation – and machines by proxy – can definitely be felt at the end of this tale.] The bears were based on toy bears owned by Tolkien's sons. Tolkien was both author and illustrator of the book. His narrative binds the story and illustrations tightly together, as the text often comments directly on the pictures.

Mr. Bliss wasn't published during Tolkien's lifetime. He submitted it to his publishers as a balm to readers who were hungry for more from Tolkien after the success of The Hobbit. The ink and coloured pencil illustrations would have made production costs prohibitively expensive. Tolkien agreed to redraw the pictures in a simpler style, but then found he didn't have time to do it.

The manuscript lay in a drawer until 1957, when he sold it (as well as the original manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Farmer Giles of Ham) to Marquette University for £1,250. The book was published in 1982, with Tolkien's difficult-to-read handwritten story and illustrations on one page, and a typeset transcription on the facing page. Tolkien used two names from Mr. Bliss for hobbits in The Lord of the Rings: Gaffer Gamgee and Boffin.

Mr. Bliss is a delightful children's tale full of whimsical characters, light-hearted dialogue and funny adventures. Tolkien's creativity knew no bounds: not only his writing style hits the right mark, his own illustrations are absolutely sublime and drawn with such care for detail, they left my mouth wide open. He just proved yet again that he had a killer sense of humour when it came to his art. It's just such a neat little book, I'm happy to have finally added it to my collection. The only thing I didn't enjoy about this story was its reoccurring fat-shaming. One character is actually dubbed "Fattie" and all he does is eating (or asking for food), he's so heavy he cannot walk properly or sleep on a normal bed; this portrayal annoyed me as it got the wrong message across, especially as the story was originally designed from children. Apart from that, I can't find fault with anything else.

// Book #4 for BTAT 2018!

[Atalántē · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dla dzieci może fajne, nie wiem, ale dorosły to raczej tu nic ciekawego nie znajdzie, może oprócz rysunków. 2⭐

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually half the length is says it is, since they also published the story as it was originally published back in the 70s, with Tolkien's handwriting and everything. I mostly read the more book friendly format (portrait layout) but would occasionally flip back to see the panels as Tolkien originally created them for his kids (landscape layout). The art is reproduced perfectly and even slightly larger than the original sketches, and all that handwriting just made me appreciate more how much work Christopher had to do to give us the HoME and The Silmarillion and everything else. And that was his dad's neat handwriting. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The tale itself is cute and whimsical and fun. It's completely random and outrageous, the perfect story for a dad to write for his kids. It brought to mind when my dad used to tell my brother and me bedtime stories (minus the art). And I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar names pop up, making it clear that Tolkien has always mined his older stories (he wrote this in the early 30s but was unable to get it published in his lifetime) for names when writing LOTR and The Hobbit. LOL

Anyway, there's zero plot here. There's no big lesson to teach the kids. Just cute pictures, and a cute story about a man who really should stick to his bicycle (that doesn't have peddles), and some bears and a girabbit (a rabbit with a super long neck), and a bunch of haphazard adventures that prove why you shouldn't leave your house. 😂

[Pflanzis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilde Geschichte! 😂 Ich musste sehr oft schmunzeln und bin großer Fan vom Giraffinchen (Girabbit) geworden. 🧡

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's a story that Tolkien wrote and illustrated for his own children. The format of the book is interesting: on the recto page, we see the author's original work, in his own hard-to-read scrawl.



The verso page offers a "translation."

It's a very haphazard, convoluted tale. I got the feeling ole J.R.R. made it up for the kiddies one night, then attempted to write it down from memory a few days later. It's worth a look, but not highly recommended.

PS - I added an extra star because I liked the Girabbit.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't been a fan of picture books since I was in third grade. While I love comics, and I don't mind if a chapter book has an illustration here and there, I've found "easy readers" too basic and boring for my tastes since I was eight. Prior to requesting this for Tolkien and Lewis month a while back, I didn't know it was a picture book; while a cute story, I'm definitely not its target audience. If you have kids, this may be a good introduction to the writings of Tolkien; as for me, I'll stick to his books about Middle-Earth.

[Justin Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this beautiful edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's comical story he wrote for his children at Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin, Ireland when I was on holiday recently. His illustrations in this book are very good! The story is very entertaining, and had me roaring with laughter. I finished it when I got back home to the mountains of North Carolina.

[Brenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a special book for me, one that I read as a child as it came out for the first time.

[Annaleely Leely]

i would like a girabbit, please.

[Daniel Piva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ótimo para as crianças e para os adultos.
Fácil de ler, e muito denso, e super dinâmico.
Não dá vontade de parar de ler.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful children’s book about a man who wears tall hats, owns a pet Girabbit, and goes on a disastrous outing. Tolkien’s writing is charming, especially in the way he narrates what each illustration is about.

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obicno mi je kvalitet izdanja na trecem mestu iza same sadrzine i normalnog fonta za citanje, ali covece sto je ovo jedna LEPA knjiga! Sto se tice same radnje i ilustracija, sve je bas onako kako sam ocekivao od Tolkina.

[Adia · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun nonsense

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is illustrated with charming colour sketches by the author. A small fairytale with bears in the woods, picnics on the lawn, a brightly coloured new car and pride going before a fall. I particularly like the girabbit, a creature like a rabbit with a giraffe's neck and head. There are some similarities to Toad of Toad Hall. We see names like Gamgee, Sam and Boffin, with other precursors of The Hobbit and TLOTR.

Interestingly in the list of costs Mr Bliss incurs, I note a sixpence tip to the police sergeant. Perhaps Tolkien, being middle-class, thought one tipped policemen for their time, like porters or waiters. As far as I know, the police have never been allowed to accept tips.

The book is a lot shorter than it appears. To be fair to the publishers, this is explained on the flyleaf. The story is presented twice with the same drawings and Tolkien's original handwriting on the second version. However, to many readers this won't make it good value, so decide for yourself if you want to buy or borrow from a library.

This is an unbiased review.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. Love the classic illustrations.

[Andrew Hryhirchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little Sunday afternoon light-read.
Loved it. I am, however quite bias. I'm a big Tolkien fan, and I'll read anything that his colourful imagination can conjure.
It's a bright and animated children's book about the adventures of a tall hat wearing dandy names Mr. Bliss, and his spontaneous inspiration to buy a motorcar, and the trouble there ensues.
Aside from the playfulness of story and many delightful characters, the book is worth buying simply for its hand-crafted illustrations by the author.

The book awakens a childlike simplicity of happiness in the reader, a return to some feelings that have long been forgotten.
All in all a very pleasant experience.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this book in a London bookstore recently and since I am collecting all the books written by Tolkien (since he is a favorite author of mine), I had to get a copy of this book.
This is a short, funny children’s story. I didn’t enjoy it much as an adult but I am sure young children will like it. The book had facsimile of the original illustrations and text written by Tolkien himself. Recommend it for Tolkien fans and for young children.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tolkien's short books are bonkers. Like... there's a guy...and he lives in a tall house and wears tall hats. And he has a girabbit. Which is essentially a rabbit with a neck the length of a giraffe. Mr. Bliss finds out at the end of the book he's supposed to have a permit for the girabbit, by the way, and owes a pretty penny. One day Mr. Bliss wakes up and decides he wants to buy a yellow motorcar that also is yellow on the inside with red tires on the outside. Naturally. So he sets out to buy a yellow car and meets a lady with bananas and a guy with cabbages and three talking bears. Pandemonium ensues.

I hate comparing everything to Alice in Wonderland, but Carroll had the corner market on absurd whimsy. This vibed in the same way, but gentler for young children. My understanding is this is a picture book written and illustrated, by Tolkien, for his boys using their toy car and teddy bears as the inspiration.

One day in heaven, I'll run into John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and I will stutter and stammer and blush and cry like a fangirl. And I will tell him that he was my most impactful author, along with C.S. Lewis, and I will scuff my toe along the ground and mumble thank you and continue on my way apologizing for daring to be in his presence.

I am absolutely confident that's probably what will happen.

I'd rate this a G.

[Lancelot Schaubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first blush to modern readers, this book will seem like an equally absurd, “ancient” version of the nonsequitors found in Axe Cop. But that’s mainly because our books for children have become so shallow. In Axe cop, the introduction of new characters and plot points never rises above the absurd. In Mr. Bliss, nothing is spared and nothing unintended: everything has a point.

Tolkien wrote — and in my version lettered and illustrated (!) — this book for his own children. And it’s hilarious and goofy at times, but in a way that the imagination of children and grandparents alone can most appreciate. The book doesn’t stop to explain how Girrabits exist or why one of the brothers is insanely fat. Such things just are.

We can then move on to show the problem with upgrading our technology and industry to the modern age: how it slows down every category of our being in terms of efficiency while speeding up the one thing that ought be slow: our reflection and relationships. It damages household pets and houses, picnics and excursions, the wild and the tame, domestic life and sylvan, and even industry and economy themselves suffer for such advances.

This is a long picture book. THAT is a good thing, for picture books have ventured towards an asinine brevity of late and it took a voice like Rowling to remind us that yes, in fact, the attention of children can be trained to be sustained on story, logic, speech, and song.

How pertinent, then, that we learn to be slow with the thoughts and people that matter and to rid ourselves as fast as possible of the modern constraints of technology?

Or at least recant, restrict, and release its stranglehold upon us for the sake of neighbor, forest, friend, and the rest?

In fact, perhaps the funnest part of our modern adventure happens precisely when the most modern parts of them break down and leave us nothing but the true essence of adventure.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every garden needs a girabbit ..

This delightful little story was written and illustrated by Professor Tolkien for his own children when they were young. Meet Mr Bliss, with his immensely tall hats, his customised house and most importantly the girabbit. Mr Bliss decides to buy a motor car and that is when his adventures really begin. Some of Mr Bliss’s adventures are entirely attributable to his driving, but who could anticipate being hijacked by three bears?

My inner child and I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Mr Bliss. This story was written in the 1930s but was not published in Professor Tolkien’s lifetime. The edition I read was published in 1982 and includes a facsimile of the original manuscript with the printed text on facing pages. The book has been revised and was republished (in the UK) in October 2007.

This is a story to read and enjoy with children. And if you don’t have access to children, indulge your inner child and take time out to marvel at this particular manifestation of Professor Tolkien’s imagination. Children’s libraries everywhere should have a copy of this book, and I dedicate this review it to my Amazon librarian friends. I just wish I’d been aware of this book about 35 years ago: I know my son would have loved it.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Samantha B · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful book! My edition of this has the story in it both horizontally with original text and vertically with type-set text, and I read the type-set version this time, but I'd definitely read the horizontal next.

This is such a fun and whimsical story coming from Tolkien's deeply entertaining and amusing brain. It did feel a bit more rough around the edges than some of his stories, but that was ok--the illustrations and his little comments on them more than made up for that!

4 stars

[Terka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moje recenze - http://sheisbookaholic.blogspot.cz/20...

[Ibbo 🎄 · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025 #40

🎩
🦒

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short book, around 80 pages (twice) since it's pretty first in the handwriting of JRR Tolkien and another printing version. One interesting part is that is fully illustrated by Tolkien himself.

This story, like some of the others he wrote to his sons is aim at children. Whilst The Letters for Father Christmas still leaves up today , this one is a bit more odd, a bit more like Alice in Wonderland. This is a story about Mr Bliss who has a strange animal (giraffe) living with him and he wants to buy a motor-car (being a 1936 novel, probably written before) it's a new thing. It's full of comic moments and quaint of technology that Tolkien was so averse. It shows that cars will only complicate things... that's my take on it, but maybe it has another purpose? Who knows.

If you enjoy Tolkien go ahead and read it. IF you don't enjoy Tolkien, will you not enjoy this. IT has nothing to do with his main series , it's just a children's book - nice to have, beautifully illustrated by a very talent man.

78/100

[Óscar Trobo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se lo saqué a los niños de la biblioteca porque han alucinado con El Hobbit y al final me pudo la curiosidad.

Las situaciones y personajes absurdos y el sentido del humor de Tolkien, especialmente en la interacción entre texto y dibujo, están muy bien. Pero no deja de ser una historia que Tolkien creó para sus hijos y yo, como lector, me he quedado un poco afuera.

Puede que un poco también por la edición. En las páginas pares tenemos un facsímil del manuscrito original y en las impares la traducción (la transcripción de la caligrafía de Tolkien en la edición inglesa). Al final tienes que ir moviendo la cabeza de lado a lado para no perderte nada y acaba siendo todo un poco mareante.

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pequeña historia infantil que tiene la peculiaridad de haber sido no sólo escrita sino ilustrada por el autor.
La historia es entretenida y los dibujos preciosos.
Y me encantó el jirafanejo! (girabbit en el original)

[Roderick Vonhogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny, cheerful story JRR Tolkien wrote for his children. The style is very similar to the stories taking place in the Shire at the beginning of the Hobbit. The audiobook version is wonderfully read by Derek Jacobi.