Citation :It is, I suppose, a tribute to the curious effect that a story has, when based on very elaborate and detailed workings, of geography, chronology, and language, that so many should clamour for sheer “information” or “lore”...

C’est, je suppose, un hommage au curieux effet que produit l’histoire, quand elle est construite sur un travail très élaboré et détaillé de sa géographie, de sa chronologie et de ses langues, que tant de personnes réclament à cor et à cri de “l’information » brute, du “savoir”...

Citation : "Musicians want tunes, and musical notation; archaeologists want ceramics and metallurgy. Botanists want a more accurate description of the mallorn, of elanor, niphredil, alfirin, mallos, and symbelmynë; and historians want more details about the social and political structure of Gondor; general enquirers want information about the Wainriders, the Harad, Dwarvish origins, the Dead Men, the Beornings, and the missing two wizards (out of five). It will be a big volume, even if I attend only to the things revealed to my limited understanding!".