The extraordinary history of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien

The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor. Embedded in English legend and English association, they were set in the narrative frame of a great westward voyage over the Ocean by a mariner named Eriol (or AElfwine) to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where Elves dwelt; from them he learned their true history, the Lost Tales of Elfinesse. In the Tales are found the earliest accounts and original ideas of Gods and Elves; Dwarves and Orcs; the Silmarils and the Two Trees of Valinor; Nargothrond and Gondolin; and the geography and cosmology of the invented world.

Praise for Book of Lost Tales 1

In these tales we have the scholar joyously gamboling in the thickets of his imagination… . A commentary and notes greatly enrich the quest. -The Daily Telegraph

Affords us an almost over-the-shoulder view into the evolving creative process and genius of J.R.R. Tolkien in a new, exciting aspect …The superb, sensitive, and extremely helpful commentary and editing done by Christopher Tolkien make all of this possible. -Mythlore