(C) John Howe
I deliberately withheld writing about this news at any point yesterday, as the annual pranking event of April Fool’s took over the internet.
In order to ensure this was no typical joke, the rumoured whispers from distant shores seem to have declared the potential release of a “Tolkien Book” in August this year.
Take the meaning of “Tolkien Book” as lightly as possible. There are no indications yet what this might mean, but this news comes with the listing of a Tolkien Untitled book surfacing on Amazon a week or so ago.
This piece of announcement seemed to gain traction when, just a few days ago, Book Depository listed The Fall of Gondolin as being released on August 1st (differing from the August 23rd date on Amazon).
The Tolkien Society has written an excellent piece on this — which serves both as a tantalising possibility and a cautionary approach to this news.
Back with the release of Beren and Lúthien, Christopher Tolkien had pretty much assured his readers that this would be his last publication. In addition, we all remember the numerous times it was reported that a standalone book on The Fall of Gondolin was not a possibility, given the lack of detailed writings there are available.
So, what could this “new book” consist of?
Between us, I’m really hooked by the idea of a potential release on The Fall of Gondolin, thereby successfully bringing to a close the publication of individual books on Tolkien’s three Great Tales.
At the same time, I’m not holding my breath, nor raising my expectations.
True, anything with the possibility of a new Tolkien book is cause for celebration in itself, but let’s just wait and see what announcements Time has yet to provide us with.
Undoubtedly, we’re looking at some exciting times ahead!
What are you thoughts about this?
Let us know below!
A Tolkienist's Perspective 
That would be fantastic! Because of the frequent references to Sting (and to a lesser degree, Glamdring/Orcrist) in the Hobbit / LOTR, I’ve always been more interested in Gondolin than the Beren/Luthien and Turin storylines (no shade on them, they’re great – I just prefer the whole “hidden city” thing than the “star-crossed lovers” or “tragic hero” storylines).
Hope so! It’s always been my favorite of the Great Tales, too. And, though it may be apocryphal, wasn’t it the first of them? I think I read that he wrote the first lines or outline while still in the trenches in WWI.
That’s correct. The first few passages of The Fall of Gondolin were written by Tolkien in the trenches, in 1916. 🙂
Amazon Germany also changed the listing from Tolkien Untitled to The Fall of Gondolin some days before Book Depository listed the entry and have since changed the price from €24 to €19.39. The page count is somewhat a mystery as there is simply not enough published to offer 304 pages in a similar vein to Beren and Luthien.
:O The plot thickens … yes it seems the page count is a curious thing
Reblogged this on The Kingdom of Memory and commented:
Tolkien, Lewis, and other members of the Inklings dedicated themselves to the defense of the Classic Western Literary Tradition as the shadow of Modernism rose over the Continent. Our tradition has never been in more need of defense, and if this publication OF Tolkien’s should occur, another defensive position will have been added to the cause.
“Education Is Resistance. Honor The Resistance.” (c)
It looks like there will be a hardcover version, and a deluxe version of the Fall of Gondolin, no? If so, any ideas what color the new deluxe version will be in terms of matching with the other deluxe versions?
Also, James, do you have a video showing your Sherlock Holmes book collection? We would love to see it done in the same way as the LOTR collection! Amazing!
Finally, James what do you think about the portrayal of Moriarty in the Sherlock BBC tv series, with his shrill goofy laugh and carefree attitude compared with the more erudite version in the books?
@Sherlock: James already did a video with his Sherlock Holmes collection.
In terms of the Fall of Gondolin, they might go for colors they rarely do like a shade of dark red, yellow, or orange, since there are already multiple blues, browns, and greens. However, James might think differently.
And James, what is your view on the Sherlock version of Moriarty?