A charming new pocket edition of one of Tolkien's major pieces of short fiction,
and his only finished work dating from after publication of The Lord of the Rin
gs. What began as a preface to The Golden Key by George MacDonald eventually gre
w into this charming short story, so named by Tolkien to suggest an early work b
y P.G. Wodehouse.
Composed almost a decade after The Lord of the Rings, and w
hen his lifelong occupation with the 'Silmarillion' was winding down, Smith of W
ootton Major was the product of ripened experience and reflection. It was publis
hed in 1967 as a small hardback, complete with charming black and white illustra
tions by Pauline Baynes, and would be the last work of fiction to be published i
n Tolkien's own lifetime. Now, almost 50 years on, this enchanting tale of a wan
derer who finds his way into the perilous realm of Faery is being published once
again as a pocket hardback.
