A Tolkien Treasury

by Alida Becker (Editor), W.H. Auden (Contributor), Daniel Grotta (Contributor)

With poems, stories, songs, and so much more, this Running Press Miniature Edition™ is the perfect gift for every Tolkien fan. Get a glimpse of Middle-earth in this beautifully illustrated celebration of one of the greatest writers of all time-and his epic creations.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Essays, Classics, Poetry, Short Stories, Art

97 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1978

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 1 out of 5]

What do you imagine when you here the phrase “A Tolkien Treasury?” Well, I imagined a vast tome full of Tolkien anecdotes and wonderful illustrations; I imagined a book that was full of middle-earth lore and mythos; I imagined a book that was as lavishly adorned as the treasury of Erabor and as majestic as any book that would be found in Rivendell’s library. Granted, these are incredibly high hopes. But, in all fairness, what I didn’t expect was this:



This is a tiny little book that I could fit into the palm of my hand, which is quite apt because when I clench my fist in anger, at the worthlessness of this book, it will feel the full brunt of my annoyance. This book is incredibly poor in every sense. By Tolkien Treasury the publishers actually mean a random assortment of quotes that have no order or significance. This is basically everything they could find that was Tolkien related and said by someone else who had written a book, so they shoved it in here. Also, they stuck in a few incredibly basic so called middle-earth recipes that, to be quite frank, look quite disgusting and pointlessly obvious.

This book is just ridiculous. I knew there was something off about the low price online. Had I actually seen this in a shop I wouldn’t have bought it. I may have picked it up, but only to glare at its terribleness. It’s almost insulting to add this to my Tolkien shelf because this is just so stupid! Take my advice: do not bother with this piece of kindling.

A pointless 1 star

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wonderful pictures is what sold it for me. This random collection of quotes, images and some recipes is not what I expected when picking up this book being a Tolkien fan. However, I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed reading thoughts about what others thought about LOTR however it would've been more interesting if famous writers for example had their opinions included in the book. Overall, my favourite parts of this book were the images and the poems which I really liked reading. Perfect read about Tolkien in less than half an hour!

[Alesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short and sweet book. I really loved the artwork in this. Some of the quotes were a bit repetitive, but overall it was a good little book. Makes me want to read and watch The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit again. 🥰

[Knigoqdec · Rating 2 out of 5]

Една от най-безполезните книжки за подарък на света... Но пък е някак сладка

[[ J o ] · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from a book that comes in at 3'x3', but maybe just a bit more than what we got here.

'A Tolkien Treasury' is just the worst thing I've come across for a while. It has maybe three quotes from Tolkien himself and the rest are just random words vaguely related to him. The illustrations are pretty decent, but at such a small size they may as well not be there at all. You'd think it would be a lovely little collection of some of the best quotes from Tolkien's works but we barely even got that. I can't even begin to express my dislike of this tiny book and the fact that it is tiny doesn't enamour me toward it at all. It's basically pointless. It's was like a self-indulgent escapade on the "authors" part to get her own views on Tolkien in to print.


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[A.E. Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose Tolkien-works were my first fandom, and in the very early internet days, when I was about 14, I spent an inordinate amount of time trawling the archives and efforts of worldwide Tolkien societies, who, like all established fandoms, had leapt to take advantage of - indeed, to develop - the internet's capacity for connecting those with mutual adoration of just about anything.

This is an old-style pre-internet work of love, with that pleasing touch of academia that Tolkien fandom so often has around it, with essays both critical and gleeful sat alongside a few select pieces of fanfic, a selection of recipes, and a crossword puzzle, amongst other things. The gems are the short biography of Tolkien's life, and the wonderful illustrations, but the whole thing is indeed a treasury, not just of Tolkien's legacy, but of one of the richest and most enduring fandoms.

Also, the part about how on earth one might film Lord of the Rings is, these days, particularly wonderful to read, in which real world locations are suggested, and Greta Garbo is considered the only real option for the part of Galadriel. Wonderful.

[Mafalda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tiny book is so weird! I bought it cause it looked cute and the illustrations on the dust jacket were pretty. But it’s full of random content including quotes from other people and honestly, I don’t really care for what a bunch of people had to say about Tolkien and his works! I’d much rather have the pages full of Tolkien-inspired haikus and poems (the few present in this book are quite good). The recipes are also a nice touch and the illustrations are beautiful.

[Cinnamon Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Enter into a world of myth and fantasy, a place of Lords and Ladies, hobbits and nazguls. Taste the food, sing the songs, live the legend!"

For such a little book it holds a lot of information. This little bundle of joy has quotes, poems, stories, songs and artwork that is very important to all the fans of Middle Earth. You will not regret buying this.

[Stormcrow Hayes · Rating 1 out of 5]

As I quickly paged through this miniature doodle of a... I don't dare call it a book. It's not a book, but little more than a pamphlet in hardcover, I imagined my review would be summed up in two words: cash grab. And it is certainly that. But two words don't quite do this abomination justice.

First, the good. Most of the illustrations are, from what I can tell, quite good. I say from what I can tell, because the book isn't much larger than the size of a matchbook. (The printed pages are only 3" by 2.5" -- quite small.) Had the illustrations and paintings been large enough that they could actually be admired, I might be willing to give it three stars (definitely 2) based on their quality alone. But alas, this entire project is quite obviously trash and the artwork, however they acquired it, a lucky happenstance.

The bulk of the book contains quotes and mostly not very good ones, including two from our esteemed editor, Alida Becker. Becker makes such profound statements as the following:

"Middle Earth is a world with a history and mythology all its own." (Page 7)

"Over the past 25 years, J.R.R. Tolkien has become a respected figure in the literary world." (Page 73)

Wow, Ms. Becker, that's really going out on a limb to make those statements. This also takes up two of the less than 90 pages of content. There are also three (if I recall correctly) recipes. Who in their right mind is buying this book for recipes? Furthermore, how are you going to attempt to make something from a recipe written on these tiny pages?

Again, it's just garbage filler for a book that was probably created in an afternoon.

A book like this could have been filled with fun, poignant, and inspiring quotes from either the author or his characters, but instead we are given filler such as that described above. Other notable quotes include (and remember each of these takes a page): "Tolkien's humor and scholarship combine to make him a popular lecturer" (p. 47); and "The Lord of the Rings is a criticism of the modern world and of the values of technological civilization" (p. 21).

Wow, what insight!

I'll sum up as I began - cash grab.

[Olivia Plasencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am seeing there are two versions of this book, I had the big girl version. While I loved the start of the book and the insight to Tolkien the further back you get in this version the less thrilling a read. After the biography of Tolkien, you get some essays by prominent writers and friends of his about him and his work. After that you get some notes from Tolkien's son Christopher and his take on his father, his work and the impact both had on the world. The Middle Earth inspired cooking recipes were interesting and I may try a few but the fan fiction section was where I stopped reading. (Sorry if that section was yours!) I am glad I read this, and I plan to pass this book along to my nephew who loves anything and everything Tolkien!

[Emma sharp]

It’s a very cute little book, which is honestly the only reason I bought it.. it would’ve been much nicer if the pages where just filled with Tolkien quotes, rather than reviews on Tolkien?? I don’t regret buying it though as it was only a dollar, and will look nice on my desk. But if you’re wanting to actually read something (which is difficult anyways due to the size of the book) I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit odd to include the Wilson piece trashing LotR.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures, writing, and editing.

[Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looks great on my bookshelf. And that's all..... disappointing

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit useless, to be honest. Not much in it, no real value added if you’re a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unabashedly read this tiny book full of quotes about Tolkien and writings that are odes to Middle Earth in a desperate attempt to get as close to my reading goals for the year as possible lol

[Shayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful little Hobbit sized treat for the soul and a lovely addition to my collection!

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely little book

[Lucian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly entertaining book. The materials within are of varying quality but even the worst of them are still decent and it’s short enough to be a fun, small read.

[Clo-Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of works regarding the writings of Tolkien.

[Rochelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Attractively bound, a handful of interesting illustrations (as well as 2-3 quotations by Tolkien and his son) are the best things about this miniature hardcover.

[Adam Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the history in this book, the reviews of critics from the 1950s, the quick summary of the Hobbit and LOTR, and of course Tolkien 's quick history. It was fun

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teehe

[Richard Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compendium referencing all things Tolkien. There are essays, stories, poems, parodies, recipes, and even word puzzles. All is not complementary, however. Colin Wilson in "Tree by Tolkien" states " LOR is less significant than it looks." Ouch. One of the highlights is a collection of color illustrations by Tim Kirk. There are numerous others the best of which may be Tolkien's own drawing of "The Lonely Mountain." My favorite passage... "Our hope for the future lies in the capacity of human imagination to reach beyond the present, in our capacity to glimpse vistas of meaning that stretch out endlessly before us." (P. 85)

[Abdur-Raheem Modan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Saw this and thought it would be similar to the Running Press editions. I was wrong. This 'treasury' is a random collection of quotes, pictures and recipes for making so-called 'Middle-Earth food'. Terrible. Bought it from the bookshop, making the mistake of not reading it beforehand - returned the very same day.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I got this book mostly for the awesome art but the pieces about Tolkien, his works and LOTR fandom were pretty good too.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought a copy in the 80's mainly for the artwork.

[Jos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic little book with quotes and pictures relating to the works of Tolkien. This book is very small and appears to be very well made.

[Snufkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet little (tiny!!) book - an eclectic mix of quotes, poems, even recipes...

[chelsea reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so small and cute aw