Note so much a review as a footnote

The History of Middle-earth Index

Cover shot: The History of Middle-earth Index The History of Middle-earth Index: Balrogs section

The page from the Index covering Balrogs.

In the history of odd books, The History of Middle-earth Index is not the least. It is the thirteenth volume of the Histories of Middle-earth (though not Volume 13) and contains the index, and nothing but the index. (Plus the complete set of introductory notes as included in the original 12 volumes, and the first-publication data for the 12 volumes on the verso of the title page. This may be a useful reference for collectors.)

The Index does not simply bind in one cover the indexes to the 12 volumes. The 13 indexes (Volume IX has two) have been fully combined, so that, should you wish to look up the references for Balrog(s), you will find Balrog(s) listed in sequence from Volume I through to Volume XI on one page. For Volume XII, you can step back to the previous entry, Balrog (XII).

The original indexes compiled by Christopher Tolkien for the 12 volumes are very accurate and thorough, and genuinely helpful to anyone researching a subject through a sequence of volumes. Where more than 3 or 4 volumes are involved, the researcher tends quickly to run out of fingers. The combined index helps to reduce this shortfall, as well as providing an overview of the distribution and extent of a given subject. It also helps to gather many of the variant forms of a name in one place, including some of the cross-references.

Apart from a small section omitted in error from one of the original volumes, and an extremely small number of non-correspondences (where the form in the index did not match the source page), it was decided that nothing should be changed or added to the combined index. Although the exact form of entry varies over the course of the 12 volumes, in response to the style of the texts in those volumes, rationalisation (for instance, of entries starting with The or A, or ending in plurals) has been kept to a minimum and only used where small entries would appear in an awkward order for that reason alone.

The volume appears in matching format with the current UK paperbacks of the Histories and other core Tolkien books and, as with most of the Histories at any one time, is available to order from good bookshops and web dealers, including TS Trading. 9.99 UK. See the Sales Page for overseas mailing details.