The Bovadium Fragments, 9780008737764
Hardcover
Tolkien’s satirical fantasy unveils Oxford’s hidden battle with modernity.

The Bovadium Fragments

Together with ‘the Origin of Bovadium’ by Richard Ovenden

$35.10

  • Hardcover

    144 pages

  • Release Date

    3 May 2026

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Summary

World first publication of a previously unknown short satirical fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and accompanied by illustrations from the author together with an essay, The Origin of Bovadium, by Richard Ovenden OBE.

As Christopher Tolkien notes in his Introduction, The Bovadium Fragments was a ‘satirical fantasy’ written by his father, which grew out of a planning controversy that erupted in Oxford in the late 1940s, when J.R.R. Tolkien was…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780008737764
ISBN-10:0008737762
Author:J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint:HarperCollins
Format:Hardcover
Number of Pages:144
Release Date:3 May 2026
Weight:440g
Dimensions:228mm x 149mm x 20mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

‘It was written in the late 1950s and 1960s, but it has extraordinary contemporary relevance.’

Sunday Telegraph

‘The tale is sharp enough to puncture the inflated dreams of the car lobby. You can hear the righteous anger through the satirist’s smile.’

The Times

About The Author

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Christopher Tolkien, born on 21 November 1924, is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm as a pilot. At the end of the war he returned to Oxford University and became a Fellow and Tutor in English of New College in 1964, lecturing in the University on early English and northern literature. Appointed by J.R.R. Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself since his father’s death in 1973 to the editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion and Beowulf, and the collections entitled Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth. Since 1975 he has lived in France with his wife Baillie.

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