J.R.R. Tolkien book The Fall of Gondolin coming in August
The Fall of Gondolin, which to many is the "Holy Grail" of Tolkien books, takes place thousands of years before the events of the famed Lord of the Rings adventure.
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings, died in 1973. But fans will get the chance to read a new book by the author (well, new to them) this August.
HarperCollins will publish The Fall of Gondolin on Aug. 30, the publishing company announced Tuesday. The book was edited by Tolkien's son Christopher, 93, and illustrated by Alan Lee.
The book tells of the founding of the Elven city of Gondolin, and is considered one of Tolkien's Lost Tales.
"We never dared to dream that we would see this published," said Shaun Gunner, chair of the Tolkien Society, on the group's webpage. "The Fall of Gondolin is, to many in the Tolkien community, the Holy Grail of Tolkien texts as one of Tolkien's three Great Tales alongside The Children of Húrin and Beren and Lúthien. This beautiful story captures the rise and fall of a great Elven kingdom, taking place millennia before the events of The Lord of the Rings. This book brings all the existing work together in one place to present the story in full."
Tolkien is believed to have started writing the story in 1917 while recovering from trench fever he contracted during World War I.
It follows another posthumously published Lost Tale, The Tale of Beren and Lúthien, which came out in 2017.
Tolkien has made headlines lately because his classic Lord of the Rings series is being made into a streaming series for Amazon .