Oronzo Cilli's TOLKIEN'S LIBRARY (2019)

Extollager

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My copy arrived today (14 August 2019). I have checked for a number of authors of interest to some Chronsfolk.

Here are some very quick findings. He had

Blackwood, Algernon. Several books including The Glamour of the Snow, The Wendigo, The Willows.
Buchan, John. The Blanket of the Dark, Castle Gay, Dancing Floor, Greenmantle, House of the Four Winds, Huntingtower, Midwinter, a pamphlet called "The Novel and the Fairy Tale," Path of the King, Witch Wood.
Chesterton, G. K. The Ballad of the White Horse, The Man Who Was Thursday, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, The Flying Inn, several nonfiction works including Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man.
Dunsany, Lord. The Book of Wonder -- only that.
Eddison, E. R. The Worm Ouroboros, the three Zimiamvia, books, Styrbiorn the Strong, a translation of Egil's Saga.
Haggard, H. Rider. Ayesha, Eric Brighteyes, Heu-Heu or The Monster (I had surmised that he had read it in an article written some years ago), King Solomon's Mines, She, She and Allan, Wanderer's Necklace, Wisdom's Daughter.
James, M. R. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.
Morris, William. Loads -- Defence of Guinevere, Earthly Paradise, Life and Death of Jason, News from Nowhere, Roots of the Mountains, Some Hints on Pattern Designing, Story of the Glittering Plain, translation of Grettir's Saga, Story of Howard the Halt, Story of Sigurd the Volsung, Sundering Flood, Tale of the House of the Wolfings, Tale of Beowulf, Three Northern Love Stories, translation of Volsunga Saga, Water of the Wondrous Isles, Well at the World's End, Wood Beyond the World -- i.e. Tolkien had all of the big romances by Morris that Ballantine reprinted in its series edited by Lin Carter.
Stapledon, Olaf. Last and First Men, Last Men in London.
Wells, H. G. First Men in the Moon, History of Mr. Polly, The Time Machine.

I have found no surprises so far, but multiple confirmations of identifications I and others have made.

Of course there are zads of scholarly books too.
 
...Spending a few more minutes with Cilli's book, I see that it lists books Tolkien is known to have referred to -- i.e. not every book listed is one that we can say for sure was owned by Tolkien.

Cilli's book comes with a very appreciative foreword by my favorite Tolkien scholar, Tom Shippey.

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Eh! I looked more closely, and realized that Cilli's source for the entry on Haggard's Heu-Heu was -- me! I had offered evidence, in Drout's J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia suggesting that Tolkien, known to enjoy Haggard, had read that little-known romance. But whether he did or not, I don't know. Someone using Cilli's book carelessly -- as I did when I first picked it up -- might take it that that Haggard book was in Tolkien's library. We have no evidence of that, and it is by no means sure that he read it.
 
Eh! I looked more closely, and realized that Cilli's source for the entry on Haggard's Heu-Heu was -- me! I had offered evidence, in Drout's J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia suggesting that Tolkien, known to enjoy Haggard, had read that little-known romance. But whether he did or not, I don't know.
Amazing!
 
Welcome, Tracey! There are many Tolkien-related discussion threads here.
 
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