| This article refers to the collection of in-universe poems. For other namesakes, see The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (disambiguation). |
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book is a 1962 collection of poetry by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book contains sixteen poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, a character most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume in Tolkien's best-selling The Lord of the Rings. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well. The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
Contents[]
- Introduction
- About the Artist
- Preface
- Commentary
- Gallery
- Appendix
- I. Tom Bombadil: A Prose Fragment
- II. Once upon a Time and An Evening in Tavrobel
- Footnotes
The order of the poems form a thematical progress: two poems with the titular character, two "faerie" poems, two with the Man in the Moon, two with Trolls; three "bestiary", and four "atmospheric/emotional". The Mewlips doesn't fit to a category, and placed in the middle as a divider.
- Poems proposed but eventually omitted:
- The Trees of Kortirion and You and Me, later published in The Book of Lost Tales Part One.
- The Dragon's Visit to Upper Bimble, later published in the revised edition of The Annotated Hobbit.
- Poems added in the 2014 extended edition:
- Once upon a Time, a poem related to Tom Bombadil.
- An Evening in Tavrobel, recounting an evening in Tavrobel, a place in Tol Eressëa in the early version of the legendarium.
Background[]
Tom Bombadil was a figure in J.R.R. Tolkien's mind that appeared in his writings at various times, including a 1937 poem; eventually he became a canonical part of the legendarium while Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien's aunt Jane Neave enjoyed the figure of Tom in The Fellowship of the Ring and asked him if he could make a book out of him that would make an affordable Christmas present. As Tom was a vague, deliberately unexplained figure, Tolkien didn't feel that anything more could be told about him, but thought that his 1937 poem could be made into an illustrated booklet, with Pauline Baynes in his mind. Rayner Unwin suggested to collect more poems with it so as to be a more publishable book. Tolkien then researched some older, half-forgotten poems (the value of which he doubted)[1][2] and started a laborious process to rediscover, rub up, improve and re-write them; something which, as he wrote to his aunt, he greatly enjoyed.[3]
Tolkien thought, and Baynes agreed, that the poems didn't fit together as a collection.[1] Part of Tolkien's re-writing attempted to make them fit with each other and into Hobbit-lore; he decided to include a Preface that would make this connection, and wrote a second poem with Tom in order to fit him better into the world of The Shire and Hobbits.[4]
- Illustrations
Despite Baynes suggested that his poems were rather "felt", Tolkien insisted that his images were definite, clear and precise.[5] He instructed Baynes that the illustrations "shouldn't be comical". Then she collaborated with art editor Ronald Eames, and finished six illustrations by August 1962. Though there were some criticism from Tolkien to Baynes' work, in the end, Tolkien credited for a large part Baynes for the commercial success of the book.
The collection is included in Tales from the Perilous Realm (published in 2008) alongside many of Tolkien's stories for children, with illustrations by Alan Lee. An audiobook of this was produced in 2010, narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi.
An extended edition was published in 2014, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull. This edition includes: an introduction by the editors, earlier versions of 13 poems with textual notes, a later 'Bombodil' poem Once upon a Time, a previously unpublished text The Bumpus, the predecessor of Perry-the-Winkle, and the complete fragment of a prose story featuring Tom Bombadil.[6] Some revision history of the poems are as follows:
- Revised, title unchanged
- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- Errantry (eventually became the The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë)
- Fastitocalon
- Revised, title changed
- The Princess Ní → Princess Mee
- The Cat and the Fiddle → The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
- Why the Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon → The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon
- Pēdo & Pōdex → The Root of the Boot → The Stone Troll
- The Bumpus → Perry-the-Winkle
- Knocking at the Door → The Mewlips
- Iumbo, or, Ye Kind of Ye Oliphaunt → Oliphaunt
- The Shadow Man → Shadow-Bride
- Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden → The Hoard
- Looney → The Sea-Bell
- Firiel → The Last Ship
The 2024 edition includes an "About the Artist" section before the Preface.
External links[]
- Addenda and Corrigenda (2014) by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond
- Richard C. West, Review of the extended edition, Tolkien Studies: Volume 12
- Book review at thetablet.co.uk
- Book review at Tolkien Library
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Die Avonture van Tom Bombadil |
| Albanian | Aventurat e Tom Bombadil |
| Amharic | የቶም ቦምባዲል ጀብዱዎች |
| Arabic | مغامرات توم بومباديل |
| Armenian | Թոմ Բոմբադիլ արկածները |
| Assamese | টম বম্বাডিলৰ দুঃসাহসিকতা |
| Asturian | Les Aventures de Tom Bombadil |
| Azerbaijani | Tom Bombadilin macəraları |
| Basque | Tom Bombadil abenturak |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Прыгоды Тома Бамбадзіла |
| Bengali | টম বোম্বাদিল এর এডভেন্ঞার ট্যুরিজম |
| Bosnian | Pustolovine Toma Bombadila |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Приключенията на Том Бомбадил |
| Catalan | Les aventures de Tom Bombadil |
| Chinese | 湯姆·龐巴迪歷險記 |
| Corsican | L'avventura di Tom Bombadil |
| Croatian | Avanture Tom Bombadila |
| Czech | Příhody Toma Bombadila |
| Danish | Tom Bombadils Eventyr |
| Dari | ماجراجویی های تام بومبادیل |
| Dutch | De avonturen van Tom Bombadil |
| Esperanto | La Aventuroj de Tom Bombadil |
| Estonian | Tom Bombadil seiklused |
| Faroese | Ævintýrini hjá Tom Bombadil |
| Filipino | Ang mga pakikipagsapalaran ni Tom Bombadil |
| Finnish | Tom Bombadilin seikkailut |
| French | Les Aventures de Tom Bombadil |
| Frisian | De Aventoeren fan Tom Bombadil (Western) |
| Galician | As aventuras de Tom Bombadil |
| Georgian | ტომ ბომბადილის თავგადასავლები |
| German | Die Abenteuer des Tom Bombadil |
| Greek | Οι Περιπέτειες του Τομ Μπόμπαντιλ |
| Gujarati | ટોમ બોમ્બદિલ ઓફ એડવેન્ચર્સ |
| Hebrew | הרפתקאות תום בומבדיל |
| Hindi | को टॉम बमडेल के एडवेंचर्स |
| Hungarian | Bombadil Toma kalandjai |
| Icelandic | Ævintýri Tom Bombadil |
| Indonesian | Petualangan Tom Bombadil |
| Italian | Le avventure di Tom Bombadil |
| Japanese | トム・ボンバディルの冒険 |
| Kannada | ಟಾಮ್ ಬೊಮ್ಬದಿಲ ಅಡ್ವೆಂಚರ್ಸ್ |
| Korean | 톰 폭탄 박람회의 모험 |
| Laotian | ເລື່ອງຮາວທີ່ແປງຂອງ ຖໂມ ບໂມບະດິລ |
| Latin | Adventurae Tom Bombadilis |
| Latvian | Tom Bombadil piedzīvojumi |
| Lithuanian | Tom Bombadil nuotykiai |
| Luxembourgish | D'Abenteuer vum Tom Bombadil |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Авантурите на Том Бомбадил |
| Maithili | टॉम बम्बडिल के रोमांच |
| Malaysian | Pengembaraan Tom Bombadil |
| Maltese | L-avventuri ta 'Tom Bombadil |
| Marathi | टॉम बोंबाडिलचा एडवेंचर्स |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Том Бомбадилын адал явдал |
| Nepalese | एडवेंचर्स टॉम बोम्बदिल |
| Norwegian | Eventyrene til Tom Bombadil |
| Occitan | Las Aventuras de Tom Bombadil |
| Persian | ماجراهای تام بمبادیل |
| Polish | Przygody Toma Bombadila |
| Portuguese | As Aventuras de Tom Bombadil |
| Romanian | Aventurile lui Tom Bombadil |
| Russian | Приключения Тома Бомбадила |
| Samoan | O Mea tutupu a Tom Bombadil |
| Sardinian | Sas Aventuras de Tom Bombadil |
| Scottish Gaelic | Na Tachartasan aig Tom Bombadil |
| Serbian | Авантуре Том Бомбадила (Cyrillic) Avanture Tom Bombadila (Latin) |
| Sicilian | Li Avvinturi di Tom Bombadil |
| Sindhi | ٹام بمعدل جو مہم جوئی ? |
| Sinhalese | ටොම් බොඹදිල් ඇඩ්වෙන්චර්ස් |
| Slovenian | Pustolovščine Tom Bombadil |
| Slovak | Dobrodružstvo Tom Bombadil |
| Somali | Hawlaha ee Tom Bombadil |
| Spanish | Las aventuras de Tom Bombadil |
| Swedish | Tom Bombadills äventyr |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Саргузаштхои Том Бомбадил |
| Tamil | டாம் பொம்பாடுல் அட்வென்ச்சர்ஸ் |
| Telugu | ది అడ్వెంచర్స్ ఆఫ్ టామ్ బొమ్బదిల |
| Thai | การผจญภัยของทอมบอมบาดิล |
| Turkish | Tom Bombadil'in Maceraları |
| Turkmen | Tom Bombadiliň Başdan geçirmeleri |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Пригоди Тома Бомбадила |
| Uzbek | Том Бомбадилнинг саргузаштлари (Cyrillic) Tom Bombadilning sarguzashtlari (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Cuộc phiêu lưu của Tom Bombadil |
| Welsh | Anturiaethau o Tom Bombadil |
| Xhosa | Kwiintlanga zeTom Bombadil |
| Yiddish | די אַדווענטורעס פון טאָם באָמבאַדיל |
| Yoruba | Awọn Iṣẹlẹ ti Tom Bombadil |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, I: Chronology
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 233
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 234
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 237
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 235
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, "New Tolkien Projects, Part One" on Wayneandchristina.wordpress.com, January 15, 2014