J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth

J.R.R. Tolkien created the Middle-earth mythology as the setting for his epic adventure story, The Lord of the Rings. In 1947, he wrote to his publisher - George Allen & Unwin - suggesting that changes should be made to The Hobbit to make it compatible with the Middle-earth mythology. In 1950, George Allen & Unwin sent Tolkien galley proofs for a new edition of The Hobbit that incorporated example changes he had suggested could be made in his 1947 letter.

People cannot agree on what order to read the books in the Middle-earth mythology. If you read The Silmarillion first, you may become bored or tired of all the names and give up. If you read The Hobbit first, you may not like the presentation because the book was originally written for children. If you read The Lord of the Rings first, you may find the long format to be tedious.

Most people who get through all three books probably read The Lord of the Rings before the other books. Many people have also started reading The Hobbit. Since The Silmarillion was written mostly to explain things mentioned in the other two books, very few people try to read it first.

After having read all the books at least once, many people go back and read them in chronological order (within the mythology): The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings followed by Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth.

J.R.R. Tolkien understood the difficulty readers would have in making the transition from one book to another. Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez speculates that J.R.R. Tolkien wanted to create a resource book about Middle-earth, a companion volume to The Lord of the Rings which would have contained all the stories and histories that people wanted to know more about: the history of Numenor, the history of Rohan, more information about Gondor, and background information on events and things in The Lord of the Rings like the hunt for the Ring, the Palantiri, and the Istari.

Unlike other fantasy authors, Tolkien also gave life to his work through vivid paintings and drawings of places and events in his imaginary worlds. Once you have read Middle-earth and seen it through your own eyes, you may want to read a book like J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator and see Middle-earth through his eyes.