The Life and Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

This exhibition showcases the legacy of the English author and philologist J.R.R. Tolkien. It includes many ofTolkien’s own literary works, numerousbiographical works on Tolkien, a variety ofliterary criticism pertaining to his works, as well as primary and secondary works in the field ofphilology.

To reserve, order, or check the availability of a book, click the link under the particular work, which will direct you to swisscovery. Alternatively, download the full bibliography for this exhibitionhere (PDF, 144 KB).

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a prominent English author and philologist, best known for his high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Born in the Orange Free State (now South Africa) on the 3^rd of January 1892, his family moved to Birmingham, England when Tolkien was three years old. There, he spent his childhood and completed his primary education, until he began his studies at Exeter College, Oxford in 1911. Tolkien studied English language and literature, as he had already been highly interested in the history and construction of languages from an early age on. After completing his degree in 1915, he joined the British Army to serve in the First World War, but he returned to academia after the end of the War, taking on a position as lexicographer at the Oxford English Dictionary and privately tutoring Oxford undergraduates. In 1920 he then joined the academic staff of the University of Leeds, first as a reader in English Language, before being promoted to a professorship in 1924. It was during his time in Leeds that he produced A Middle English Vocabulary as well as his highly valued edition of the Middle English text Sir Gawain and the Green Knight together with Eric Gordon. In 1925, he returned to Oxford as professor of Anglo-Saxon, a position which he held for the following twenty years. This was followed by a professorship of English Language and Literature (also at Oxford), which he held for another fourteen years, until his retirement in 1959. Throughout his time in Oxford and Leeds, Tolkien consistently worked on compiling stories, writing poems, and inventing languages, many of which eventually ended up in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. Due to the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – which were published in 1937 and 1954-55 respectively – Tolkien remained a busy man even after his retirement, frequently giving interviews and making public appearances. Further, he continued to work on academic publications as well as on his fictional works, most notably by attempting to complete The Silmarillion. However, he did not manage to finish this work in his lifetime. J.R.R. Tolkien died on the 2^nd of September 1973 at the age of eighty-one and is buried in Oxford alongside his wife. The Silmarillion and many other unfinished works of Tolkien’s were published posthumously by his literary executor, his son Christopher Tolkien.

Sources:

“Biography.” The Tolkien Estate, 2022, www.tolkienestate.com/life/biography.

Carpenter, Humphrey. JRR Tolkien: A Biography. George Allen & Unwin, 1977.