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# A Narcissus at Christmas: Received: The Complete Guide to Middle Earth
- URL: https://thedailyeudemon.com/55398/
- Published: 2021-12-29T13:52:29.000Z
- Updated: 2022-06-26T00:51:19.000Z
- Author: Eric Scheske
- Tags: Books, Holidays, Middle Earth, Tolkien, #wpChunk

## **[Robert Foster: The Complete Guide to Middle Earth](https://amzn.to/3sIqxqK?ref=thedailyeudemon.com)**.

My sons pooled their money to buy me this deluxe edition of Robert Foster’s classic Middle Earth reference book. I’m not even sure where they found it, but it’s a beautiful book.

After opening it, I said, “Wow, I love it. I don’t even want to take it out of the cellophane.” My son replied, “It’s meant to be read.” I nodded.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Robert Foster’s dictionary had been a staple in my library since my teenage years and, though I honestly love the gift, I’m loathed to soil it with my haphazard reading habits. Instead, I’d prefer to continue to use the beaten-up paperback that I’ve used for years so I can preserve my new edition in its pristine condition, though I am very curious to see what the actual pages look like so I might cave in and unwrap it.

---

Foster’s book is, like I said, a “classic” and a “staple,” but you know what work might be even more impressive, albeit not terribly useful? JEA Tyler’s *The Tolkien Companion*. I normally don’t endorse anyone with four names, but he’s a Brit and probably eccentric, so I let it slide.

Anyway, this poor bloke put together a Middle Earth reference book (1976) *before the Silmarillion came out* (1977). Without *The Silmarillion*, any Middle Earth reference book is woefully incomplete. I remember that, after I bought it, I puzzled why the First Age references were so sparse. I didn’t piece together the publication chronology until years later.

But regardless, Tyler did an impressive job piecing together Middle Earth, relying solely on the pre-1977 Tolkien corpus. He seems to have gotten most things from the First Age correct, which would’ve required a close reading of *LoTR* (plus any information he could glean from *The Adventures of Tom Bombadil* and *The Road Goes Ever On*).

If you want to read an anachronistic oddity, check out poor Tyler’s book. If you want the definitive guide, however, Foster’s is the choice.