A is for... Auditions - Find out which pop star auditioned to play an elf and who impressed Peter Jackson the most. B is for... Bilbo - Martin Freeman had reservations about playing Bilbo at first - discover why. He had great fun on set with his fellow actors, find out who he loved working with and who he didn't. Uncover why the movie Bilbo is different from the book "The Hobbit". C is for... Cast - Filming The Hobbit threw up all kinds of challenges for the cast. Find out who injured themselves on set and who the biggest prankster was! All this and more, including... all the behind-the-scenes set secrets, why Elijah Wood had to be involved, and what to expect from the next two Hobbit movies. This is the MUST HAVE book for any fan of The Hobbit.

Middle Earth, Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo: The places and characters that sprang from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien will live forever in the imaginations of millions of readers. In Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards, Michael Stanton, a scholar of science fiction and fantasy literature, offers an extraordinary encounter with The Lord of the Rings. Believing that there is no epic of contemporary literature to match The Lord of the Rings, Stanton delves critically into the richness of the story. He explores the intricacies of its dialogue and illuminates the idiosyncratic nature of it characters. He looks at places, dreams, notions of time and history. Eschewing academic jargon, Stanton provides an intriguing look at Tolkien's fantasyscape that ultimately shows how all of these parts meld into a singularly compelling work of art that lives and breathes. For those who have read and loved The Lord of the Rings, Stanton embarks on an exploration of Tolkien's genius, painting a rich and wonderful critical portrait of the world he created, a portrait that no one who truly hopes to understand Tolkien's vision will want to be without.

The first softback edition of the superb illustrated edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's enduring classic. J.R.R. Tolkien's great classic work, The Hobbit, celebrated its 60th year of publication (1937) with a gorgeous illustrated edition by artist Alan Lee, winner of the Kate Greenaway medal for illustration, and creator of the fabulously successful Centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. Containing 22 full colour illustrations depicting key scenes from this all-time classic (scenes such as Gollum and Bilbo, The Wargs, Smaug the Dragon and The Battle of the Five Armies), this beautiful volume also includes a wealth of integrated pencil drawings which demonstrate perfectly Alan's genius at work.

This is the story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected... ‘A flawless masterpiece’ The Times

The first encyclopedic illustrated guide to the world of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands, this book brings together every important aspect of Tolkien's vast cosmology. More than five hundred alphabetical entries cover five major subject areas: history, geography, sociology, natural history and biography. The maps, genealogies and time-charts, together with the illustrations of characters, places adn events, reveal to the reader the full dramatic sweep and splendor of Tolkien's world.

Ten writers with different viewpoints explore the political, religious, cosmological, and psychological principles of the creator of The Lord of the Rings.