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Published posthumously by his son, The Histories of Middle Earth box set contains five books giving insight into the development of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. In these five books readers find how the story evolved in Tolkien's notes, and how it became the story we all know and love. Summary of the Books After the release of The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien was flooded with mail asking for more information about Hobbits and Middle-Earth in particular. This set him down a path which led to the Lord of the Rings. However, before the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wanted to write in detail about the world he called Arda, Middle-Earth. In these five volumes, the first half in a collection edited by Tolkien's youngest son and literary heir Christopher Tolkien, readers are taken into the mind of the creator himself, to delve with the Dwarves in Moria, to hunt with the rangers and ride with the Elves. These books explore Tolkien's mythology, and form the basis of the mythology that eventually became the Silmarillion. Filled with jewels such as the earliest drafts of Feanor and crafting the Silmarillion, the original version of Beren and Luthien where Beren was an Elf, readers can glimpse how much work and revision went into building the first greatest fantasy novel ever written. Among these stories is also the story of Eru, the One, who in Arda was called Iluvatar: the Creator of Arda himself. This collection includes: The Book of Lost Tales 1 and 2, The Lays of Beleriand, The Shaping of Middle-Earth and The Lost Road and Other Writings. About J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a best-selling English author. He is considered the father of the fantasy genre and is best known for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Professor Tolkien studied English Language and Literature at Exeter College, Oxford. He loved creating languages, and his work on Middle-Earth has since elevated to cult-status after the release of the Oscar Winning movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson.