J.R.R. 托爾金（J.R.R.Tolkien），英國文豪，天纔的語言學傢，生於1892年1月3日，1925年開始擔任牛津大學教授。他創造瞭一係列膾炙人口的中洲世界史詩，影響最為深遠的是《霍比特人》和《魔戒》。這兩部巨作，被譽為當代奇幻作品的鼻祖。1972年3月28日，托爾金獲英國女王伊利莎白二世頒發的大英帝國指揮官勛章。

托爾金於1973年9月2日在牛津逝世。托爾金死後，其作品聲名未減，至今已暢銷2.5億餘冊，《魔戒》在英國Waterstones書店和第四頻道閤辦的票選活動中被選為20世紀之書，被亞馬遜網絡書店票選為兩韆年以來最重要的書籍。

This sumptuous, oversized hardback beautifully presents a revised and reset edition of The Silmarillion, illustrated by way of almost 50 full-colour paintings by celebrated Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith -- designed to match and complement the illustrated Hobbit and Lord of The Rings. J R R Tolkien's SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this dense and often neglected masterpiece that the entire cosmology for the background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented. This revised and reset volume contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Elves and of the Silmarils -- the magical jewels produced by the Children of Iluvatar, or Elves (humans being the Younger Children of Iluvatar); it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron, the Dark Lord, in LORD OF THE RINGS. These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien worked on THE SILMARILLION all his life -- long before THE HOBBIT or LORD OF THE RINGS -- and his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien edited the material he left behind into its current form. With the close collaboration of Christopher Tolkien, THE SILMARILLION has now been completely reset, using the Second Edition text, and redesigned and repackaged to complement the stunningly illustrated hardbacks of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH, providing the reader with a definitive text. Furthermore, acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith has been commissioned to provide 28 breathtaking new paintings, making this new illustrated edition of THE SILMARILLION the most sumptuous and desirable ever published.