Roverandom - Hardcover

Tolkien, J .R. R

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007523289 ISBN 13: 9780007523283

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2013

Synopsis

J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy story about the adventures of a bewitched toy dog, written before The Hobbit.

While on holiday in 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach at Filey in Yorkshire. To console him, his father, J.R.R.Tolkien, improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is magically transformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him in order to be returned to normal.

This charming tale, peopled by a sand-sorcerer and a terrible dragon, by the king of the sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, was Tolkien’s first full-length children’s book, written before The Hobbit. Now, nearly 90 years later, the adventures of Rover – or, for reasons that become clear in the story, ‘Roverandom’ – are published in this delightful pocket hardback edition. Rich in wit and wordplay, Roverandom is edited and introduced by Tolkien experts Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, and includes Tolkien’s own delightful illustrations.

About this title

Review:

‘This is an old-fashioned story, yet it still speaks freshly today... would leap to life when read aloud to a child’
Independent

‘Lord of the Rings buffs will enjoy picking out bits of Nordic mythology and will relish Tolkien’s fabulous sense of landscape’
The Times

From the Back Cover:

While on holiday in 1925 young Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach. To console him, his father, J.R.R. Tolkien, invented a story about a real dog who is turned into a toy by a wizard and sent by a ‘sand sorcerer’ to the moon and under the sea.

More than 70 years later, the adventures of the dog Rover, also known as ‘Roverandom’, are now published for the first time. They have been edited from the original typescript by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, who relate the story to sources ranging from the Norse sagas to E. Nesbit, and link it also to Tolkien’s other fiction, including 'The Hobbit ', the ‘Father Christmas’ letters, and ‘The Silmarillion’. The book also includes five illustrations by Tolkien himself.

Entertaining and rich in wordplay, 'Roverandom' will delight all readers who love a clever tale, and will be welcomed by Tolkien’s many admirers of all ages.

Christina Scull is the former librarian of Sir John Soane’s Museum, London and the editor of the magazine 'The Tolkien Collector'. Her husband, Wayne G. Hammond, is Assistant Librarian in the Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College, author of the standard bibliography of Tolkien’s works, and a regular contributor of Tolkien notes to the journal 'Mythlore'. The couple live in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Their acclaimed study of Tolkien’s paintings and drawings, 'J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator', is also published by HarperCollins.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0007523289
• ISBN 13: 9780007523283
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Scull Christina, Hammond Wayne G.