THE ILLUSTRATED WORLD OF TOLKIEN

https://www.eastonpress.com/prod/826/3643/THE-ILLUSTRATED-WORLD-OF-TOLKIEN To all of you Tolkien fans. Looks interesting

This does look good. The HC edition is only $16.95 for those who do not need it in leather.

>2 HugoDumas: yeah, you're paying for the leather binding. Although, it's one beautiful cover.

>3 astropi: Just got it for $1.53 new including shipping and tax with this month’s visa points.

>4 HugoDumas: wow... congrats :)

>4 HugoDumas: pictures please and congratulations, lucky.

Absolute garbage. More recycled David Day (his "works" have quite the reputation in the Tolkien community). There are some books you would have to pay me to take, and this is one of them.

>7 stubedoo: I'm call you out on this.
To simply claim a book is "Absolute garbage" without explaining why, giving a compelling argument, without any bit of insight or clarity simply makes you look juvenile. The book has a 5-star review on amazon with 28 reviews. Does it mean "much"? Maybe not, but certainly means a heck of a lot more than what you said.

>8 astropi: lol you sound very upset

>9 fancythings: not "very upset"
Although I really don't like it when people come in and take a dump over some author/book without explaining any rationale. Especially a book which others clearly enjoy. That's basically just trolling.

It's perfectly fine to say "I don't like this material... I'm not a fan of the author, etc..." but just calling something "absolute garbage"? Not appropriate Librarything behavior!

>10 astropi: I hear ya, you very passionate about books.

You could try Googing David Day, I guess, Astropi, rather than getting upset?

There are many, many people that will happily educate you on the problems with Day's books. The same content recycled through 10+ books with differing titles is one of the main complaints. They are low-end gift books aimed at the gift market (rather than people buying for themselves). Putting leather around them doesn't make a $15 gift book a better book.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/David_Day (For avoidance of doubt, I've never contributed to this Wiki entry -- it is entirely the opinions of people other than myself, which comes up when doing a Google search)

>12 stubedoo: thanks for sharing. This book received nearly a perfect 5 star review on Amazon. I trust I did not waste my visa points this month in getting this for $1.53. I was hoping for a review of Tolkien illustrations considering Easton Press Tolkien books are very disappointing. You get one frontispiece and nothing more. My biggest disappointment in 40 years of collecting. I wish they would come out with a four volume DLE with 24 color illustrations per volume!

>14 HugoDumas: "I wish they would come out with a four volume DLE with 24 color illustrations per volume!" I'm really surprised that EP did not produce any Tokien books in DLE format.

>15 fancythings: I am not even pleased with the Folio Society edition.

>14 HugoDumas: Years ago I received one of David Day's books as a present. I thought the illustrations and content were wonderful.

stubedoo says "They are low-end gift books aimed at the gift market (rather than people buying for themselves)." I'm not quite sure what that means? If he recycles the same content and keeps pumping out new books, I can see why that's received poorly, at least if you own all 10 books. However, if you just get one of his books, I'm guessing it will be quite enjoyable. At any rate, once you receive the book you can let us know your thoughts.

>17 astropi:

If you have never read the Tolkien Bestiary or any of derivatives, the pictures in this one are - in places - interesting. If all you want is some pictures, it will be an OK book. I think my explanation of them being "gift" books is reasonably clear. They are aimed at buyers that don't really know about Tolkien, but know people who do. I personally think Day and/or his publishers exploits the buyer with the endless rehashing, knowing that well-intentioned buyers will waste money on the same material again and again, not knowing they have been tricked.

Edit: Here is an example of David Day publishing someone else's review (with 4 stars) using his own Amazon Account (the top review when you go to the page). The alleged third-party review included the statement "Christopher Tolkien acknowledges both authors." My understanding is that this is absolutely not true (I can't verify either way, of course -- but please see below).

What kind of author does this? Essentially publishing a review of their own book to offset a one star review. I could comment further on his Amazon review antics (attacking negative reviewers), but I will leave it. Let's just say I took one of my own (agreeing) comments on a negative review down to avoid being hassled.

https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Illustrated-Encyclopaedia-David-Day/dp/0753724227

The following quote is allegedy from Day himself (from an article in the Daily Express) -- but I haven't seen the article with my own eyes and searching for the title of the article only returns the one link. The quote comes from https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/179267/how-can-these-unlicensed-books-...

-snip-
Day also posits the argument that his works enhance the value of Tolkien's works rather than diminishing it.
'Their father's work is a sacred text to them and they feel that anything that doesn't come from them, the Tolkiens, can only ruin it'... Day laughs at the furious letter he received from Christopher Tolkien calling him 'an ass' and 'more like a burglar than a writer ... In the past two months alone, stores have sold more copies of The Lord of the Rings than the typical annual totals before JRR's death."

Daily Express - The Sad Legacy of Tolkien's Fable - Google Groups Reproduction
-/snip-

>18 stubedoo: That's bizarre... of course on amazon you can change your screen name to David Day as well. Thus, it could be someone else, or not. As you noted, impossible to tell. Somehow I imagine if it was Day himself he would give his book 5/5 stars.

As for the quote by Day himself, if you can find the original citation that would be quite potent, as it stands, I'm always skeptical of hearsay.

As for wasting money on the same things... well, that's to the buyers discretion.

I think it's clear you don't like Day's work, and that's fine. But, you still haven't convinced that his work does not have merit nor that there is inherently anything wrong with it.

>19 astropi:

FWIW, I communicated with Day on Amazon and there was a lot of back and forth - In that prior case it was most definitely him, but like I say I can't be sure about that specific review I linked to (though it fits his prior modus of using Amazon to express his dissatisfaction with negative reviews - or in my case someone who had commented on such a review). It is unfortunate that the Daily Express article is only in thumbnail size at this point, as it would be great to be able to read the words rather than a transcription that we have to take at face value. It should be possible to get the text from The Express, given the date of publication was clearly 12th October 2001 and the pages were 36 and 37, and this is available from their digital archive for someone who has the appropriate subscription.

With regards to convincing you that his work has no merit, that's not my intention. I think the illustrations are not bad. I don't think the words have a lot of merit (the original bestiary was published before HoME), and the practice of endlessly re-titling the work is just obnoxious (to be fair, Day claims he has no control over this -- which may be true). I personally would choose not to reward that kind of publishing, but everyone has to make their own mind up.

I purchased this book and just received it last week through Walmart's site and am very pleased with the book. The cloth cover, pages and illustrations are wonderful that cost me less than $20. I am a Tolkien fan and have been for many years and have always been very picky on the Tolkien books I purchase but this one by David Day does not dissapoint.

The HC edition is lovely, certainly the quality of a Folio Society edition without a slip cover. It surveys the work of 25 illustrators. Tolkien purists may be disappointed in that it lacks the illustrations of the five more famous illustrators: John Howe, Alan Lee, Ted Naismith, Quinton Hoover and JRR Tolkien; As well as the superb illustrations of David Wenzel for the graphic novel edition of The Hobbit. I am not complaining since I got it for $1.53 with visa points. If you have no other edition surveying Tolkien art it is worth $17 on Amazon. I believe the EP edition would be worth the price ($132) ONLY if it contained the art of the more famous Tolkien illustrators.

To me, this volume strikes me as an example of Easton Press management following the assumed customer model:

IF CONTAINS("Tolkien") THEN Customer-Will-Blindly-Purchase-as-Fast-as-Possible.

I think Hugo's assessment is probably best. If you don't have any other Tolkien artwork laying around and want an inexpensive partial summary, get the HC version.

Maybe this EP version is worth getting as one of those free volumes with any $100+ purchase...assuming they ever have a chance to get back to those sales again.

Having read it carefully and reviewed his other encyclopedia, I can best summarize this work as a homage to the 25 illustrators he and his publisher (Thunder bay Press) worked with in developing numerous illustrated encyclopedias on the works of Tolkien over a 40 year period. None of his encyclopedias are “prepared, authorized, licensed, or endorsed by the JRR Tolkien estate, nor by any of the publishers or distributors of works written by JRR Tolkien nor in the creation, production and distribution of the films based on the book.” (Paraphrased)

Nevertheless the HC cloth edition (which I got for $1.53) is as good if not better than most Folio Society books. I was so impressed in fact that I purchased the Alan Lee illustrated HC editions of LOTR and Hobbit. Previously I sold my EP Tolkien leather-bound set which I found disappointing.