J.R.R. Tolkien's writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth collected for the first time in
one deluxe slipcased edition. J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth
as a 'dark age and not very much of its history is (or need be) told'. And for many years
readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of
The Lord of the Rings and its appendices including the forging of the Rings of Power the
building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron. It was not until Christopher Tolkien
published The Silmarillion after his father's death that a fuller story could be told. Although
much of the book's content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth there were at its close two
key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of
Númenor. Gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding in the defeat of the Dark
Lord Morgoth the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth but as the Númenóreans' power
increased the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown culminating in the Last
Alliance of Elves and Men. Further insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent
publications first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth then expanded upon in
Christopher Tolkien's twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth . Now adhering to the timeline
of 'The Tale of Years' in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings editor Brian Sibley has
assembled into one volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth told substantially
in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts with 10 new paintings and 65
pencil drawings by Alan Lee. This deluxe slipcased edition is quarterbound and printed on
heavyweight acid-free paper stamped in gold foil on dove grey boards with a unique motif
designed by Alan Lee includes a ribbon marker and is housed in a custom-built matching
slipcase.
