London: Harper Collins, 2009. Bill Sanderson. De Luxe Edition. Full-Leather. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The number 314 of 500 of the UK Signed Limited Numbered Super Deluxe Edition, published by Harper Collins in 2009, the first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien. Copy number 314, edited and signed by his son, Christopher Tolkien, to the Limitation Notice. The story tells the epic story of the Norse hero Sigurd the dragon slayer, the revenge of his wife, Gudrun, and the Fall of the Niflungs. From the publisher's release statement, "Many years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien composed his own version, now published for the first time, of the great legend of Northern antiquity, in two closely related poems to which he gave the titles The New Lay of the Volsungs and The New Lay of Gudrun. In the Lay of the Volsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fafnir most celebrated of dragons, whose treasure he took for his own; of his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire, and of their betrothal; and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or Nibelungs), with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love but also great hate, brought about by the power of the enchantress, mother of the Niflungs, skilled in the arts of magic, of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness. In scenes of dramatic intensity, of confusion of identity, thwarted passion, jealousy and bitter strife, the tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild, of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudrun his sister, mounts to its end in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers, the suicide of Brynhild, and the despair of Gudrun. In the Lay of Gudrun her fate after the death of Sigurd is told, her marriage against her will to the mighty Atli, ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history), his murder of her brothers the Niflung lords, and her hideous revenge. Deriving his version primarily from his close study of the ancient poetry of Norway and Iceland known as the Poetic Edda (and where no old poetry exists, from the later prose work the Volsunga Saga), J.R.R. Tolkien employed a verse-form of short stanzas whose lines embody in English the exacting alliterative rhythms and the concentrated energy of the poems of the Edda." -- Christopher Tolkien. Features a color frontispiece of a facsimile page from J.R.R. Tolkien's original manuscript. Fully bound in Brown Leather with matching full leather clamshell case, stamped in gold foil with a unique motif of Sigurd's horse, Grani. Printed on superior quality paper and including a silk ribbon marker sewn into the textblock. One lightly bumped corner, upper front, the only minor fault to this lovely collectible copy. Matches the recently released UK Signed Limited Numbered Super Deluxe Edition of The Children of Hurin. Digital photo's available, inquire if interested. Other Tolkien books available, include both the UK and US editions, original cloth bindings, custom fine bindings, and Signed/Numbered/Limited Editions. Item #2024
