cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/13thFloor/t/468547
David Day's A TOLKIEN BESTIARY is a scholarly, definitive and enchantingly beautiful explanation of all the imaginary beasts, monsters, races, nations,deities, fauna and flora of J.R.R- Tolkien's fantasy worlds of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands.
David Day has identified, analyzed and described 129 separate races. Each is lucidly explained in terms of its physical appearance, language, behavior and culture. A TOLKIEN BESTIARY does not retell their stories: its purpose is to make Tolkien’s own books more accessible by identifying his living creatures and explaining their roles in his epic world.
While not the most accurate of the Tolkien Bestiaries, this one was the first, and the one with the best artwork.
Downloads for the novels:
That's one of the reasons I posted the source material as available (free) downloads as well - Day has come under criticism before by Tolkien scholars. I personally found most of his mistakes and liberties in this work to be minor, but I'm not a Tolkien scholar. Nonetheless, the work has a unique artistic touch that regardless of its accuracy, brings the novels to life in a way that surpasses later catalogues, and it was responsible for getting young readers of my generation interested in reading them.
Yeah I realize now that my comment was a tad more aggressive than it was meant to be. I think there's some value in Day's stuff. He gives some interesting perspective and analysis on Tolkien. You just need to remember to take nothing of his as fact.