Issued in a leather covered slipcase.

The Silmarillion is the central stock of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work that he could not publish in his lifetime because it grew with him. Its origins stretch back sixty years, long before The Hobbit, which was independently conceived but was caught up into what he called the "branching acquisitive theme" from which emerged The Lord of the Rings . The Silmarillion, though published last and posthumously, has the primacy, both in terms of the author's life and in terms of its content. It is the story of the First Age in Tolkien's world, the ancient dramas to which characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils; but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Fëanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeleess despite their heroism, against the great Enemy. The book includes several other shorter works beside The Silmarillion proper. Preceding it are the Ainulindalë or Music of the Ainur, a myth of the Creation, and the Valaquenta, in which the nature and powers of each of the gods are set forth. After The Silmarillion is the Akallabêth, in which is recounted the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age; and at the end is the tale Of the Rings of Power, in which the matter of the Lord of the Rings is treated in the manner The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is not a romance, not a fairy tale, not a fictitious history contrived for its own sake. It is a work of unparalleled and sustained imagination, a sombre vision in the mode of myth and legend of the conflict between the desire to dominate the world and other wills and the creative power that proceeds from the development of inherent inner talents. The corruption of Fëanor, the creator of supreme beauty, by the deceits of Morgoth and by his own possessive passion for the things of his own making, and the fruits of that corruption, is one of its central themes. The Silmarillion has been edited and prepared for publication from many manuscripts by the author's son, Christopher Tolkien. Emblems designed by J.R.R. Tolkien. Front Cover: Lúthien Tinúviel Back Cover: Fingolfin; Eärandil; Idril Celebrindal; Elwë; Fëanor.

Review 'How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?' The Guardian 'Demanding to be compared with English mythologies! at times rises to the greatness of true myth' Financial Times 'A creation myth of singular beauty! magnificent in its best moments' Washington Post Product Description For the first time in paperback, a fully illustrated edition of The Silmarillion, with colour plates by the celebrated artist Ted Nasmith -- designed to match the rest of the Tolkien series. J R R Tolkien's SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this complex and often neglected masterpiece that the entire cosmology for the background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented. This new paperback volume contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Silmarils -- the magical jewels produced by Feanor, most gifted Lord of the Elves; it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early epic battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron, the Dark Lord, in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien worked on THE SILMARILLION all his life -- long before THE HOBBIT or LORD OF THE RINGS -- and his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien edited the material he left behind into its current form. Complete with a series of full-colour paintings by acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith, this sumptuous new edition allows the stories within to really come alive - from the creation of the world and the Tale of Beren and Luthien to the Fall of Numenor and the End of the First Age.

A new hardback edition with a cover design by Tolkien himself, to complement the popular Hobbit and Lord of the Rings hardbacks. Includes new Preface by J.R.R. Tolkien unique to this edition. The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien's World. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

This sumptuous, oversized hardback beautifully presents a revised and reset edition of The Silmarillion, illustrated by way of almost 50 full-colour paintings by celebrated Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith -- designed to match and complement the illustrated Hobbit and Lord of The Rings. J R R Tolkien's SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this dense and often neglected masterpiece that the entire cosmology for the background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented. This revised and reset volume contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Elves and of the Silmarils -- the magical jewels produced by the Children of Iluvatar, or Elves (humans being the Younger Children of Iluvatar); it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron, the Dark Lord, in LORD OF THE RINGS. These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien worked on THE SILMARILLION all his life -- long before THE HOBBIT or LORD OF THE RINGS -- and his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien edited the material he left behind into its current form. With the close collaboration of Christopher Tolkien, THE SILMARILLION has now been completely reset, using the Second Edition text, and redesigned and repackaged to complement the stunningly illustrated hardbacks of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH, providing the reader with a definitive text. Furthermore, acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith has been commissioned to provide 28 breathtaking new paintings, making this new illustrated edition of THE SILMARILLION the most sumptuous and desirable ever published.

A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before The Hobbit. Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy. This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the carlier Ages of Middle-earth. This is the story of the First Age, the ancient drama to which characters in "The Lord of the Rings" look back.

American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days. Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book. Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow. More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com

GAME OF THRONES: A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO. Dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author delivers the fifth book in his landmark series—as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire. A DANCE WITH DRAGONS A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK FIVE In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind. Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever. Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice. From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.

本书在它的作者去世四年之后出版。这部书描绘了上古时期，或者说“第一纪”时的情景。魔戒叙述的是第三纪末期发生的重大事件，《精灵宝钻》的故事则可以追溯到久远的过去那时候，莫高斯——第一个“黑暗之王”住在中洲，精灵为了夺回稀世之宝，向他发动了战争……这本书的书名是《精灵宝钻》。可是除了《精灵宝钻》，还有另外四个短篇。放在本书最前面的《圣贤之乐》和《梵拉的传说》与《精灵宝钻》的关系很密切，可是后面的两篇《努美诺尔覆灭》和《魔戒和第三纪》与《精灵宝钻》并无关系，可以独立成章。这是按照家父明确的意愿收入的。这样一来，我们就有了一部从伊路瓦塔通过“圣贤之乐”开天辟地、创造世界起到“第三纪”末期的完整的历史……

Karen Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is an essential volume that will enchant all Tolkien fans. Here is the definitive guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo, Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring. Authentic and updated -- nearly one third of the maps are new, and the text is fully revised -- the atlas illuminates the enchanted world created in THE SILMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Hundreds of two-color maps and diagrams survey the journeys of the principal characters day by day -- including all the battles and key locations of the First, Second, and Third Ages. Plans and descriptions of castles, buildings, and distinctive landforms are given, along with thematic maps describing the climate, vegetation, languages, and population distribution of Middle-earth throughout its history. An extensive appendix and an index help readers correlate the maps with Tolkien's novels.

HARRY POTTER BOXED SET 1-7 includes the seven phenomenal Harry Potter hardcover books by best selling author J. K. Rowling. These books are housed in a limited edition, collectible trunk-like box with sturdy handles and privacy lock. Bonus decorative stickers are included in each boxed set.

Although The Silmarillion takes place in the same imaginary world as J.J.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and was originally published four years after the author's death and over two decades after the former book, it is set much earlier, in the First Age of the World. The tales and the book which reads as a fusion between a story collection and historical chronicle, are a matter of legend even to the characters of The Lord of the Rings: In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great Music before him Tolkien wrote the heart of this material very early in his career, and continued to work on it throughout his life. It fell to his son, Christopher Tolkien, to edit it into book form, and such proved the unquenchable public appetite that he subsequently oversaw 12 volumes of The History of Middle-Earth. This edition features 20 highly evocative colour plates by Ted Nasmith, themselves worth the price of admission, while reinforcing the sense of a historical work are genealogical tables, an extensive index, appendix and colour map. Far removed from the genial style of The Hobbit, this is Tolkien at his most formal, his prose austere, poetically beautiful, his storytelling capturing the epic scale, high drama and melancholy wonder of myth. These stories of elves and heroes and old gods are quite literally the foundation of the entire modern fantasy-publishing revival, and are therefore essential reading. --Gary S. Dalkin -

背叛、變節、猶豫和軟弱， 在善惡大對決的最終一戰前， 失去摯友的冒險者們， 要面對的不只是熾烈的戰火， 還有他們心中艱難的抉擇。 為了對抗黑暗之后塔克西絲的惡龍軍團， 戰火愈燒愈烈。 帶著神祕的龍珠與銀光閃耀的屠龍槍， 一行人為世界帶來了希望。 但如今，在黎明破曉的此刻， 久藏在摯友心底的祕密終於攤了開來。 背叛、變節、猶豫與軟弱， 幾乎要徹底毀掉他們所努力的一切心血。 最艱苦的一戰， 就在他們的內心之中。 但最後，他們終將成為英雄。

黑暗之后塔克西絲， 率領惡龍軍團再度降臨世間。 善良的力量終究不敵長年累積的宿怨， 這群冒險者能突破黑影的籠罩， 為世界帶來希望嗎？ 黑暗之后塔克西絲的惡龍軍團再度降臨世間。 四方諸國一致備戰，準備捍衛他們的家園、生命，以及他們的自由。 然而，同仇敵愾的短暫團結終究不敵長年積累的宿仇與偏見。 未戰，似已先敗。 熾烈的戰火，無情地拆散了相知相惜的摯友。 再相聚，已是一年後--倘若彼此都還健在。 籠罩世間的黑影益發深沉， 一位貶謫的騎士、嬌貴的女精靈，和古靈精怪的坎德人， 孤寂地站在冬日慘白的陽光裡。 戰爭中毫不起眼的英雄。

惡龍降世，惟有尋得屠龍槍， 方能解救世界、回歸和平。 在充斥魔法與邪惡的克萊恩世界中， 一群平凡的冒險者， 將合力寫下令人嘆為觀止的傳奇。 多年相識的好友，互道珍重追尋自己的人生。 如今，他們又再度重逢，但心裡卻各自藏著祕密。 他們互相談論起大戰一觸即發的謠言， 聊著陌生怪物、神祕生物與傳說中的神物， 卻絕口不提他們彼此內心的祕密。 因為，時候未到。 直到某次偶然的機緣，一位既美麗又悲傷的女子， 帶著一柄魔法水晶杖，將眾人引入重重暗影中， 永遠改變他們的生命，以及這世界的命運。 沒有人料到他們會變成英雄。