"J.R.R. Tolkien - The History of Middle-Earth - 12" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

West, and an end was come for the Eldar of story and of song.
It has been an absorbing and inspiring task, from the splendours
of the Ainulindale or the tragedy of the Children of Hurin down
to the smallest detail of changing expression and shifting names.
It has also of its nature been very laborious, and with times of




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doubt, when confidence faltered; and I owe a great deal to all
those who have supported the work with generous encourage-
ment in letters and reviews. Most of all do I owe to my wife
Baillie, to whom I dedicate this last volume: but the dedication
may stand for the whole. Without her understanding and
encouragement over the years, making mutual the weight of
such a long and demanding work, it would never have been
achieved.

Note on the text.

As a general rule I have preserved my father's often varying usage in
the spelling of names (as e.g. Baraddur beside Barad-dur), but in cer-
tain cases I have given a standard form (as Adunaic where Adunaic
is sometimes written, and Gil-galad rather than Gilgalad). In his late
texts he seldom used the diaeresis (as in Finwe), but (in intention
at least) always employed N to represent initial ng sounded as in
English sing (thus Noldor); in this book I have extended the diaeresis
throughout (other than in Old English names, as AElfwine), but re-
stricted N to the texts in which it occurs.
References to The History of Middle-earth are given as in previous
volumes in Roman numerals (thus VI.314). For the necessarily abun-
dant references to the published Appendices I have used the letters
RK (The Return of the King), the page-numbers being those of the
three-volume hardback edition; and occasionally FR and TT for The
Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.
To the removal of error (especially in the citation of texts) from The
Peoples of Middle-earth, which was completed under great pressure
of time, Mr Charles Noad has contributed more perhaps than to any
of the previous volumes which he has read independently in proof;
and with the conclusion of the work I must express again my gratitude
to him for his meticulous, informed, and extraordinarily generous
labour. I wish also to record my appreciation of the great skill and care
which Mr Norman Tilley of Nene Phototypesetters has again brought
to this particularly demanding text - including the 'invisible mending'
of errors in my manuscript tables.