Editing Tolkien

Abstract: J.R.R. Tolkien, a prominent scholar of medieval English language and literature, rose to even greater acclaim as the creator of Hobbits and the maker of Middle-earth. In this talk, the husband and wife team of Hammond and Scull will discuss their work of more than three decades devoted to Tolkien, in particular their experiences editing his children’s stories Roverandom and Farmer Giles of Ham, his long “romance” The Lord of the Rings, his collection of poems The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and most recently the three volumes of his Collected Poems. They will explore the trials of working with Tolkien’s sometimes fiendishly difficult handwriting, and describe the slings and arrows an editor of Tolkien must expect to receive from critics along with the praise of devoted fans.

Bios:

Wayne G. Hammond is the emeritus Chapin Librarian of Williams College, where he administered and taught with a notable collection of rare books and manuscripts. His writings include the standard bibliographies of J.R.R. Tolkien (Winchester 1993) and Arthur Ransome (New Castle, Delaware 2000).

Christina Scull is the former Librarian of Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, for whom she wrote The Soane Hogarths (London 1991). In addition to their edited works by Tolkien, Hammond and Scull have produced many essential books in Tolkien studies, including J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (London 1995), The Art of The Hobbit (London 2011), and The Art of The Lord of the Rings (London 2015); a volume of annotations, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion (3rd ed. London 2014); and a combined chronology and encyclopedia, The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2nd ed. London 2017, 3 vols.).