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A Beginner's Bibliography of the Inklings

Updated January 2007
Compiled for the Mythopoeic Society by David Bratman

• Fictional Works of the Inklings
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • C.S. Lewis
  • Charles Williams
• Poetry
• Drama
• Essays, Letters, and Diaries
• Art and Designs
• Selected Books About the Inklings
  • Biographies
  • Literary Studies
  • The Secondary World
  • Bibliographies
• The Other Inklings

The Inklings were a gathering of friends -- all of them British, male, and Christian, most of them teachers at or otherwise affiliated with Oxford University, many of them creative writers and lovers of imaginative literature -- who met usually on Thursday evenings in C.S. Lewis's and J.R.R. Tolkien's college rooms in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s for readings and criticism of their own work, and for general conversation.  "Properly speaking," wrote W.H. Lewis, one of their number, the Inklings "was neither a club nor a literary society, though it partook of the nature of both.  There were no rules, officers, agendas, or formal elections."  An overlapping group gathered on Tuesday (later Monday) mornings in various Oxford pubs, usually but not always the Eagle and Child, better known as the Bird and Baby, between the 1940s and 1963.  These were not strictly Inklings meetings, and contrary to popular legend the Inklings did not read their manuscripts in the pub.

This bibliography is intended as a brief guide to works of fiction, poetry, essays and letters by the three principal Inklings, and to introductory works about them. A supplement discusses the other Inklings. Most of these books are in print; many others should be in large libraries. Publishers of U.S. editions are listed; check with a bookstore, or at amazon.com or elsewhere online for current availability. Dates are of first publication; "pb" means pocket-sized paperback; otherwise the publisher issues a hardcover and/or large-size (trade) paperback. Omnibus editions and special editions are numerous and generally not noted.

Fictional Works of the Inklings
all novels unless otherwise stated

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) Assistant Editor, Oxford English Dictionary (1918-1920); Reader (later Professor) of English Language at Leeds University (1920-1926); Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University (1925-1945); Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University (1945-1959)

"Leaf by Niggle" (story) (1945), reprinted in Tree and Leaf (1964) (with essay "On Fairy-Stories") (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb*)

Farmer Giles of Ham (story) (1949) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb*); authoritative edition is 50th anniversary edition, ed. Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull (1999) (Houghton Mifflin)

The Lord of the Rings (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb):

Vol. 1 (Prologue, Books 1-2), The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
Vol. 2 (Books 3-4), The Two Towers (1954)
Vol. 3 (Books 5-6, Appendices), The Return of the King (1955)

Authoritative edition is 50th anniversary edition (2004, rev. 2005) (Houghton Mifflin)
Early drafts published as (all Houghton Mifflin):

Part 1, The Return of the Shadow (1988) (approx. Book 1)
Part 2, The Treason of Isengard (1989) (approx. Books 2-3)
Part 3, The War of the Ring (1990) (Books 3-5)
Part 4, "The End of the Third Age" in Sauron Defeated (1992) (also published separately) (Book 6)
"The Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings" in The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from the Red Book (poetry) (1962) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb*)

Smith of Wootton Major (story) (1967) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb*); authoritative edition is Extended edition, ed. Verlyn Flieger (2005) (HarperCollins)

The Father Christmas Letters, rev. as Letters from Father Christmas (letters) (1976, rev. 1999) (Houghton Mifflin) (see also under "Essays, Letters, & Diaries")

The Silmarillion (posthumous collection) (1977) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb)

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth (posthumous collection) (1980) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb)

Mr. Bliss (children's story) (1982) (Houghton Mifflin)

The History of Middle-earth (posthumous collections) (Houghton Mifflin; some also Del Rey pb):

Vol. 1-2, The Book of Lost Tales, 2 vols. (1983-4)
Vol. 3, The Lays of Beleriand (poetry) (1985)
Vol. 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986)
Vol. 5, The Lost Road (1987)
Vol. 6, The Return of the Shadow (1988) (see under The Lord of the Rings above)
Vol. 7, The Treason of Isengard (1989) (see under The Lord of the Rings above)
Vol. 8, The War of the Ring (1990) (see under The Lord of the Rings above)
Vol. 9, Sauron Defeated (1992) (see also under The Lord of the Rings above)
Vol. 10, Morgoth's Ring (1993)
Vol. 11, The War of the Jewels (1994)
Vol. 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996) (see also under The Lord of the Rings above)

Roverandom (children's story) (1998) (Houghton Mifflin)

The Children of Húrin (2007) (Houghton Mifflin)

*these works are also in an omnibus titled Poems and Stories (Houghton Mifflin) or Tales from the Perilous Realm (HarperCollins UK); except for Smith of Wootton Major, the Ballantine pbs are published as one volume titled The Tolkien Reader

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) Fellow and Tutor in English at Magdalen College, Oxford University (1925-1954); Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University (1954-1963)

Charles Williams (1886-1945) Staff editor, Oxford University Press (1908-1945)

"The Noises That Weren't There" (unfinished story) (1970-2), serialized in Mythlore nos. 6-8

Poetry

Tolkien: Tolkien's poetry is scattered throughout his fictional works; separate editions of poems from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been published. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and The Lays of Beleriand (listed above) are completely poetry, as is Bilbo's Last Song (1974) (Houghton Mifflin). "Mythopoeia" is included in recent editions of Tree and Leaf. The Road Goes Ever On (1967) (Ballantine) contains several Tolkien poems with musical settings by Donald Swann. Tolkien also translated three Middle English poems, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (1975) (Houghton Mifflin; Ballantine pb).

Lewis: Collected Poems (1994) (Fount) includes Poems (1964) (Harcourt) and Spirits in Bondage (1919) (Harcourt). Narrative Poems (1969) (Harcourt) includes "Dymer", "Launcelot", "The Nameless Isle", and "The Queen of Drum".

Williams: Taliessin Through Logres (1938) and The Region of the Summer Stars (1944), in one volume, either with other Arthurian poems as Charles Williams in the Arthurian Poets series (Boydell) or with Arthurian Torso (1948) (an essay on "The Figure of Arthur" by Williams and a commentary on the poetry by C.S. Lewis) (Eerdmans). Williams also published five earlier volumes of poetry, now out of print: The Silver Stair (1912), Poems of Conformity (1917), Divorce (1920), Windows of Night (1924), and Heroes and Kings (1930).

Tolkien: Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin) (1979, rev. 1992); Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (1995) (Houghton Mifflin)

These are a few introductory and important books selected from the many works about the Inklings. They are useful companions to the fiction, and help to reveal the mythopoeic or myth-making aspects of the authors. Listing does not imply endorsement by the Mythopoeic Society

Humphrey Carpenter in The Inklings (a group biography listed above) lists 19 men who are known to have attended Thursday evening Inklings meetings (active mid-1930s to 1949). The list excludes guests such as E.R. Eddison and Roy Campbell. Most of these did not write fiction, but their memoirs, scholarship, and other nonfiction can be of interest to those exploring the Inklings' thought. A complete list of books by the other Inklings may be found in A Handlist of Books by the Inklings by David Bratman. Important and pertinent books by the other Inklings include:

Owen Barfield (1898-1997) (philosopher and attorney)
The Silver Trumpet (children's story) (1925) (Bookmakers Guild); Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning (1928) (Wesleyan University Press); Saving the Appearances (1957) (Wesleyan University Press); Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis (1989) (Wesleyan University Press); A Barfield Sampler: Poetry and Fiction (1993) (SUNY Press); A Barfield Reader: Selections from the Writings of Owen Barfield (1999) (University Press of New England)

Nevill Coghill (1899-1980) (professor of English Literature at Oxford University; producer of plays)
Translation of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1952) (Penguin); The Collected Papers of Nevill Coghill, Shakespearian & Medievalist (1988) (St. Martin's)

W.H. Lewis (1895-1973) (brother of C.S. Lewis; professional soldier and amateur historian)
The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV (1953) (Waveland Press); Brothers and Friends, diaries, an important source on the Inklings (1982) (HarperCollins)

Gervase Mathew (1905-1976) (lecturer in Byzantine studies at Oxford University)
Byzantine Aesthetics (1963) (HarperCollins); The Court of Richard II (1968) (Norton)

John Wain (1925-1994) (novelist, poet, dramatist, and critic; Professor of Poetry at Oxford University 1973-1978)
Sprightly Running: Part of an Autobiography, includes accounts of C.S. Lewis and the Inklings (1962) (St. Martins); much poetry, fiction, and criticism, all non-fantasy.

Essays by Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Barfield, Sayers, W.H. Lewis, and Gervase Mathew, together with an appreciation of Williams by C.S. Lewis, are included in Essays Presented to Charles Williams (1947) (Eerdmans).

Most of the remaining Inklings listed in Carpenter's book wrote little, and of them only Dyson and Havard were central to the group. They are:

J.A.W. Bennett (1911-1981) C.S. Lewis's successor as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge (1964-1978)
Lord David Cecil (1902-1986) Professor of English Literature at Oxford; author of biographies of Max Beerbohm and Lord Melbourne
Jim Dundas-Grant (1896-1985) Commander of the Oxford University Naval Division
H.V.D. "Hugo" Dyson (1896-1975) Lecturer and tutor in English at Reading and Oxford Universities
Adam Fox (1883-1977) Profesor of Poetry at Oxford (1938-1943); Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford; Canon of Westminster Abbey
Colin Hardie (1906-1998) Lecturer and tutor in Classics at Oxford
Robert E. Havard (1901-1985) Physician; author of the clinical appendix to C.S. Lewis's The Problem of Pain
R.B. McCallum (1898-1973) Lecturer and tutor in Modern History and Politics at Oxford
C.E. Stevens (1905-1976) Lecturer and tutor in Ancient History at Oxford
Christopher Tolkien (b. 1924) Lecturer and tutor in English Language at Oxford (to 1975); son of J.R.R. Tolkien and editor of his father's posthumous works
C.L. Wrenn (1895-1969) Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford (1946-1963)

Dorothy L. Sayers, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, and Roger Lancelyn Green, sometimes cited as Inklings, were friends of some of the Inklings but never members of the group. David Lindsay and T.H. White, also sometimes cited as Inklings, had no known connection with them.

Novels (all Harper pb except as noted)

Whose Body? (1923); Clouds of Witness (1926); Unnatural Death (1927; also published as The Dawson Pedigree); The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928); The Documents in the Case, with Robert Eustace (1930); Strong Poison (1930); Five Red Herrings (1931); Have His Carcase (1932); Murder Must Advertise (1933); The Nine Tailors (1934) (Harcourt/Harvest pb); Gaudy Night (1935); Busman's Honeymoon (1937); Thrones, Dominations, completed by Jill Paton Walsh (1998) (St. Martin's pb); A Presumption of Death, by Jill Paton Walsh, based on Sayers' articles "The Wimsey Papers" (2002) (St. Martin's)

Short fiction

Lord Peter (1971) (Harper Perennial), the complete Wimsey short stories; The Wimsey Family (1977) (Harper; Avon pb), a fictional history by C.W. Scott-Giles compiled from correspondence with Sayers; The Travelling Rug, previously unpublished short story (2005) (Mythopoeic Press)

Poetry

Translation of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, 3 vols. (1949-62) (Penguin pb); Translation of The Song of Roland (1957) (Penguin pb); Poetry of Dorothy L. Sayers (1996) (Dorothy L. Sayers Society/Marion E. Wade Center)

Drama

The Man Born to Be King (1943) (Ignatius Press); Love All, together with Busman's Honeymoon, with Muriel St. Clare Byrne (1984) (Kent State University Press)

Essays, letters, etc.

The Mind of the Maker (1941) (Harper San Francisco); Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers, 4 vols. (1996-2000) (v. 1-2: St. Martin's; v. 3-4: Dorothy L. Sayers Society); Sayers on Holmes (2001) (Mythopoeic Press); Child and Woman of Her Time (2002) (Carole Green Publishing), a supplement to the Letters including fragmentary works "My Edwardian Childhood" (memoir) and "Cat O'Mary" (novel)