Collectible edition in a slipcase of the first standalone presentation of one of J.R.R. Tolkien's most significant poetic dramas, which explores the timely topics of the physiology of heroism and chivalry during war, and includes unpublished and first-published texts and drafts.

In 991 AD, the Vikings attacked a defensive force of the English Saxons led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in fierce battles along the Blackwater River, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely regarded as one of the defining conflicts of tenth-century England and is immortalized in the poem, The Battle of Maldon.

Written shortly after the battle, the poem survives only as a fragment of 325 lines, but its value today is immeasurable. J.R.R. Tolkien considered The Battle of Maldon ‘the last surviving fragment of ancient English heroic music’. This poem inspired him to compose his dramatic dialogue, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son, which imagines the aftermath of the great battle, when two of Beorhtnoth's servants come to retrieve their duke's body.

Leading Tolkien scholar Peter Grybauskas presents for the first time his own transcription of The Battle of Maldon by Tolkien, along with the definitive analysis of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and accompanying essays. Also included is a lecture, ‘The Tradition of Old English Metrics’ never before published. With illuminating notes and commentary, it offers a definitive critical edition of these works and compellingly argues that, beyond Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon may well have been ‘the Old English poem that most influenced Tolkien’s fiction’, notably in the pages of The Lord of the Rings.

This slipcase edition includes a color illustration representing a page of Tolkien’s original manuscript for The Homecoming and is printed on acid-free paper, with a ribbon bookmark. It is quarter-bound with unique artwork by Bill Sanderson, gold-embossed on gray boards, and housed in a custom slipcase. It also includes a digitally restored recording of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth read by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien, available on CD for the first time. Pages: 208, Dimensions: 14.9x14.9cm