Nearly Every Tolkien Book Is on Sale Today, Here Are My Favorites

If you're a fan of The Lord of the Rings and its related lore, or you have someone in your life who is, today is a great day to add a few books to the collection without emptying your wallet. 

In celebration of the upcoming release of The History of Middle-Earth Box Set #2, you can find just about every book written by a member of the Tolkien family on sale today. And as the resident Tolkien nerd here at CNET, I've curated a few of my personal favorites you should consider adding to either your collection or to give as a gift. 

First up is the box set that triggered this massive sale. Christopher Tolkien made the stewardship of his father's massive trove of notes and unfinished stories his life's work, and you can see the results of that labor in a set of books called The History of Middle-Earth. There are several versions of this collection in existence, but the most recent iterations include beautiful artwork from John Howe as well as some of the original art published with the first version. This boxed set, which is the second of three, is 10% off on Amazon if you preorder it to be delivered to you on May 14. 

If you don't own the first of these boxes, appropriately named The History of Middle-Earth Box Set #1, don't worry. For starters, you don't need to have read any of the books in the first set in order to understand or appreciate the contents of the second box set. These books don't tell a linear story, and can all be read and enjoyed independently. That said, you can get the first box set for $81 today, a 43% discount. 

A lot of friends who've watched The Lord of the Rings and know they want the books often ask me which version they should buy, and the answer genuinely depends on whether you're interested in something that looks good on a shelf or something you want to take with you everywhere and enjoy. For the latter, especially if you're planning to give the books as a gift, my favorite set is the Pocket Boxed Set. This is a small set of four books, each small enough to fit in a back pocket or bag with ease. It's one of the few sets that include all three Lord of the Rings books as well as The Hobbit, and right now you can get the whole set in a nice little box for $34 which is a crazy good deal. 

For collectors, especially folks who appreciate the original art Tolkien included in his books, the recently released Illustrated Editions of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are incredibly pretty. The Lord of the Rings is presented as a single book, as Tolkien originally intended, and like The Silmarillion it offers great art throughout the book as well as beautiful art on every side of the exterior. You can find The Lord of the Rings for $40 today and The Silmarillion for $36, both discounts greater than 50% off. 

Are you more of an audiobook kind of person? You can find discounts on all three Lord of the Rings books as well asThe Hobbit and The Silmarillion, each narrated by Andy Serkis (Gollum himself!) with beautiful background audio in each to help pull you deeper in to the story. Each one is 30% off if you have an Audible subscription already, and free to listen if you start an Audible trial today. 

It's not often you see so many of the Tolkien works so significantly discounted, so if Hobbits are your thing I'd suggest getting in on this before these deals are spotted by the Great Eye.