For the next four weeks, the BBC Radio drama "Tolkien in Love" is available for listening worldwide on their website. It is approximately 1 hour in length. The description they provide is

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Edith Mary Bratt first met in 1908. They were both orphans living in a boarding house in Birmingham. Despite the difference in their ages and religions - she was 19 and Protestant, he was 16 and Catholic - they fell in love.

When Ronald's guardian, Father Francis Xavier Morgan, found out, he forbade him to see Edith again until he came of age at 21. Ronald reluctantly obeyed and later left the city after winning an exhibition to Oxford. Edith went to live in Cheltenham. At midnight on the night he turned 21, Ronald wrote to Edith declaring his undying feelings. Unfortunately, in the intervening years, she had got engaged to someone else. He raced to her in Cheltenham, they walked through the countryside and Ronald had one chance to win Edith's heart.

Their love was the inspiration for the Beren and Luthien story at the heart of Tolkien's novel The Silmarillion.

Starring Will Merrick (Skins, The Rack Pack) as Ronald and Claudia Jessie (Line Of Duty, Their Finest) as Edith. Tolkien In Love is based on real events and written by Sean Grundy, whose previous work for Radio 4 has been Sony and Tinniswood Award nominated.

A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.

Direct link to the audio: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b091s20g

Houghton Mifflin has put all of the major Tolkien works on sale today (Kindle e-books) for $2.99 each, if you are looking to fill any holes. From The Hobbit through Fall of Gondolin, pretty much everything I checked was on sale. This is a "deal of the day" so prices will go back up at the end of today.

https://amzn.to/2EaHZKX

I checked Amazon UK and there is no similar deal going on there today that I could see.

For fans of his artwork:

"Nearly 200 stunningly realistic paintings and drawings bring the greatest fantasy epic of all time to life. Classical realism unites with contemporary storytelling as artist Donato Giancola explores the mythic grandeur and the iconic characters of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings saga."

Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Books (April 2, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1506710867
ISBN-13: 978-1506710860
Product Dimensions: 10 x 14 inches

Amazon.com link:
$39.99 (list price)
https://amzn.to/2r4PnA9

Amazon.co.uk link:
£33.50 (list price)
https://amzn.to/2DAcqtJ

As mentioned previously that this was coming... what's your favorite foreign edition cover for a Tolkien book?

[Cover - Rivendell Under the Stars by Gordon Palmer]

This year marks 10 years' editing work for the Beyond Bree calendars by Daniel Smith. Each of the past ten calendars has been beautiful and of high quality, and I am quite happy to have all of his editions in my collection. Thanks Daniel and Nancy!

In celebration of the tenth calendar, and his retirement, Daniel and Nancy decided to produce a limited collector's edition of the 2019 calendar. It has replaced the July and August art pieces with new ones that were made especially for this calendar edition, and will not be reprinted by Beyond Bree ever again.

Both editions have art by Anke Eißmann, Joe Gilronan, Sylvia Hunnewell, Tim Kirk, Octo Kwan, Ruth Lacon, Nancy Martsch, Jef Murray, Ted Nasmith, Gordon Palmer, David Wenzel, Colin Williams, Kay Wollard, Maciej Wygnański, George Dunn, Jakob Ryngen, Cecile van Zon, and Patrick Wynne.

For July: In the Standard edition, Gordon Palmer's Out of the Frying Pan is featured. In the Collector's edition, The Eagles appears instead (a daytime rendering of the same scene as the Standard edition).

For August: In the Standard edition, Anke Eißmann's Éowyn is featured. In the Collector's edition, her Ioreth of Gondor appears instead.

The Collector's edition is signed by both Daniel Smith and Nancy Martsch, and is limited to only 20 copies.

For more information about either edition, you can ask here or contact Nancy Martsch, beyondbree@yahoo.com