The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
is a collection of poetry by J. R. R. Tolkien, published in
1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with
Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter
with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first
volume in Tolkien's best-selling The Lord of the Rings. The
rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy
tale rhyme.
The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes
and later by Roger Garland.
The book, like the first edition of The Fellowship of
the Ring, is presented as if it is an actual translation from the
Red Book of Westmarch, and contains some background information on
the world of Middle-earth which is not found elsewhere. Examples are
the name of the tower at Dol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers
of Gondor. There is some dispute about its canonical status since
the information presented about the secondary world is considered
only as folklore among the Hobbits.
It is also notable because it uses the letter "K"
instead of "C" for the /k/ sound in Sindarin, a spelling
variant Tolkien alternated many times in his writings.
Tom Bombadil can best be seen as a small, poetic venture
into Tolkien's imagination.
