Tree and Leaf
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972.
First American Edition, Sixth Printing. 8vo. Red cloth boards with blue titles. Dust jacket, unclipped. Heavily marred by tape residue along the top and bottom edges of the outer cloth boards and to the front and rear endpapers. Strong mildew odor. dark staining along bottom edge of endpapers. Text is clean; Spine sound. Dust jacket wrapped in mylar showing matching tape stains on the reverse of the flaps.
Bringing together two of Tolkien's shorter works: his essay "On Fairy-Stories" and the short story "Leaf by Niggle." Originally delivered as an Andrew Lang Lecture, the essay outlines Tolkien's philosophy of myth, fantasy, and "Sub-creation". The accompanying story serves as a deeply personal allegory of artistic creation and the anxieties of completion. This volume remains an indispensable reference for scholars and enthusiasts seeking to understand the intellectual scaffolding behind The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
ISBN: 0395082536
Price: $110.00