Tolkien's Library: An Annotated Checklist

by Oronzo Cilli

"A combination of circumstances means that we know more about J.R.R. Tolkien than about almost any other author, from any period. Nevertheless, in spite of all the efforts, there remains a certain opacity about Tolkien, both professionally and personally.

As this book shows, there is a way to bridge that gap which has not been previously attempted: a fact which makes this work by Oronzo Cilli arguably the work with most potential for giving us a truer understanding of Tolkien; a work which, besides its own immediate effect, points the way for many further studies. What Oronzo has done is, quite simply, to collect what is known about the books Tolkien owned and read.

The best guide to an author's mind is through his books, and in the work of Oronzo Cilli we have now the best and most valuable guide to Tolkien's books. It is a devoted, enduring, and above all inspirational work of scholarship, but not, as Oronzo knows, a final one. It joins that very select group of works, the most useful of all: a book we should keep, update, and write notes in the margin of, for the rest of our lives."

Tom Shippey

Winner of The Tolkien Society Awards 2020. Best Book

Genres: Nonfiction

1255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2019

About the author

ORONZO CILLI is an independent scholar working on Tolkien. He published "Tolkien's Library: An Annotated Checklist" (Luna Press Publishing 2019) with Foreword by Tom Shippey, winner 'Best Book - Tolkien Society Awards 2020'. He published "Guida completa al mondo di Tolkien" (Vallardi 2022) with Foreword by John Howe ad Afetrword by Brian Sibley. He edited the second Italian edition of The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Bompiani, 2004) and published "J.R.R. Tolkien, la prima bibliografia italiana dal 1967 ad oggi" (L’Arco e la corte, 2013), "Tolkien l’esperantista" (Cafagna, 2015), "Tolkien the Esperantist" (Cafagna 2017) with Arden Smith and Patrick Wynne with Foreword by John Garth and "Tolkien e l’Italia" (Il Cerchio, 2016) with Preface by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. He has spoken at several conferences dedicated to Tolkien and collaborates with ‘Dimensione Cosmica’, the Italian magazine of fictional literature. His articles on Tolkien are translated into English, French, Portuguese and Esperanto. He is the curator of a series of studies on the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien, 'Tolkien’s World', for Cafagna Publisher, member of Tolkien Society and is President of the Italian Tolkien Collectors. He runs a website Tolkieniano Collection.

Reviews

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible work with much attention to detail and about as exhaustive as could possibly be without being Tolkien himself.

It's a reference book, for sure, so I haven't read it cover to cover, but I read all the prefatory materials, and have made extensive use of it for a paper I have been working on. (The Kindle version makes searching much easier!) Highly recommend for any Tolkien scholars interested in knowing what the professor (most likely) read or at least referred to.

[Jon]

Nominated for Best Book - Tolkien Society Awards 2020

[JD Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing reference book. Well worth having in my Tolkien library!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many thanks to the author for compiling this information, which is not necessarily easy for the lay person to come by. Archives and libraries may be hesitant to list their holdings for a variety of reasons. I learned quickly why this task is so complicated, particularly by the nature of Tolkien's relationship to his own book collection. Any author, scholar, educator or common reader will own certain books for a variety of reasons. It would take a great deal of self awareness to admit that popular culture was an influence, especially if you are an Oxford Don.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating view of Tolkien's mind: what books did we know he owned? What books did we know he read? What books can we infer?

It's full of information you're unlikely to encounter in his biography: little tangents or nuggets that flesh him out.

Not exactly a book you read cover to cover (though I did).

There were a noticeably high number of typos--I started marking them in pencil about 1/3 of the way through, and had a good 15 or so, but I am very sympathetic to the difficulty of proof-reading a book-length index!

[Giovanni Costabile · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tolkien's Library: An Annotated Check-list" is clearly the book of Italian Tolkien criticism to have had the greatest success with audiences and critics abroad. As Tom Shippey says in the Preface, it will not only be the starting point for further research, but an essential reference.

[IVellon]

"Tolkien’s Library" is a very important book and we cannot thank Oronzo Cilli enough for the many hours of work he put into his book. But we also must be careful when using it – be prepared for tedious searching and accept that Tolkien’s Library does not include the “ultimate truth” about Tolkien’s library

Read my full review here:
https://www.academia.edu/42263207/Rev...