J R R Tolkien's SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this dense and often neglected masterpiece that the entire cosmology for the background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented.This new paperback volume contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Elves and of the Silmarils - the magical jewels produced by the Children of Iluvatar, or Elves (humans being the Younger Children of Iluvatar); it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron, the Dark Lord, in LORD OF THE RINGS.These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien worked on THE SILMARILLION all his life - long before THE HOBBIT or LORD OF THE RINGS - and his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien edited the material he left behind into its current form.Complete with a series of full-colour paintings by acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith, this sumptuous new edition allows the stories within to really come alive - from the creation of the world and the Tale of Beren and Luthien to the Fall of Numenor and the End of the First Age.