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Mr Bliss by J R R Tolkien (view source)
Revision as of 13:41, 11 October 2011
, 13:41, 11 October 2011Created page with '{{infobox |title=Mr Bliss |author=J R R Tolkien |reviewer=John Lloyd |genre=Confident Readers |rating=5 |buy=Yes |borrow=Yes |isbn=978-0007436194 |paperback= |hardback=000743619X…'
{{infobox
|title=Mr Bliss
|author=J R R Tolkien
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-0007436194
|paperback=
|hardback=000743619X
|audiobook=
|ebook=
|pages=192
|publisher=HarperCollins
|date=September 2011
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000743619X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>000743619X</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=A must-buy for Tolkien collectors, and a charming whimsy for all.
}}
If you wanted to produce a classic of children's literature, it would probably look a lot like this. It would be written by a famous name as a private exercise for their children, with the author's own illustrations. It would feature a title character, with a typical Edwardian headstrong attitude, yet with an ability to create slapstick. It may well have fairytale characters as you've never seen them before. And it would be presented in a deluxe, pristine heritage edition such as this.
Mr Brisk buys a car and, after a couple of crashes, gains more passengers than he was expecting. Twenty five minutes later it's over - he's been hijacked, flown through the air, inspired a marriage, and needed the help of several pack animals.
It's quite a slight piece, but no poorer for that. Certainly it reads with more jollity than Lord of the Rings. There's a whimsy you only get with stories of this derivation and age. The pictures add to that, with at times a polished, fine line, and others a rough and ready penciling. [[Category:J R R Tolkien|Tolkien]] even adds a bit of post-modernism, enriching his text and vice versa by writing about his designs within the plot.
So, to the prestige quality of this version. The first seventy-odd pages are the typeset story with illustrations as a modern designer would produce it. It's brilliant. But start from the back, flipped to landscape, and you see the original manuscript reproduced, alongside a printed version. It's been seen like that before - not in Tolkien's lifetime, though, and not in my awareness before now. The fact you get both of these formats makes this definitive, scholarly - but let's not forget a definitive version of a lost, fun novelty by a much-loved author. Indispensable.
Once upon a time this could have been the first book Tolkien published after [[The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien|The Hobbit]]. You can revisit more children's classics with the like of [[Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus]] making it most worthwhile.
{{amazontext|amazon=000743619X}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8576034}}
{{commenthead}}
[[Category:For Sharing]]
|title=Mr Bliss
|author=J R R Tolkien
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-0007436194
|paperback=
|hardback=000743619X
|audiobook=
|ebook=
|pages=192
|publisher=HarperCollins
|date=September 2011
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000743619X</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>000743619X</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=A must-buy for Tolkien collectors, and a charming whimsy for all.
}}
If you wanted to produce a classic of children's literature, it would probably look a lot like this. It would be written by a famous name as a private exercise for their children, with the author's own illustrations. It would feature a title character, with a typical Edwardian headstrong attitude, yet with an ability to create slapstick. It may well have fairytale characters as you've never seen them before. And it would be presented in a deluxe, pristine heritage edition such as this.
Mr Brisk buys a car and, after a couple of crashes, gains more passengers than he was expecting. Twenty five minutes later it's over - he's been hijacked, flown through the air, inspired a marriage, and needed the help of several pack animals.
It's quite a slight piece, but no poorer for that. Certainly it reads with more jollity than Lord of the Rings. There's a whimsy you only get with stories of this derivation and age. The pictures add to that, with at times a polished, fine line, and others a rough and ready penciling. [[Category:J R R Tolkien|Tolkien]] even adds a bit of post-modernism, enriching his text and vice versa by writing about his designs within the plot.
So, to the prestige quality of this version. The first seventy-odd pages are the typeset story with illustrations as a modern designer would produce it. It's brilliant. But start from the back, flipped to landscape, and you see the original manuscript reproduced, alongside a printed version. It's been seen like that before - not in Tolkien's lifetime, though, and not in my awareness before now. The fact you get both of these formats makes this definitive, scholarly - but let's not forget a definitive version of a lost, fun novelty by a much-loved author. Indispensable.
Once upon a time this could have been the first book Tolkien published after [[The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien|The Hobbit]]. You can revisit more children's classics with the like of [[Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus]] making it most worthwhile.
{{amazontext|amazon=000743619X}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8576034}}
{{commenthead}}
[[Category:For Sharing]]