# What is the best version of The Silmarillion for me to read?



## butsizzle (Apr 29, 2011)

What I mean is, I really want to get an illustrated version (I'm leaning towards the one with Ted Nasmith's illustrations), but I wasn't sure which edition would be the best one to get.

I read The Lord of The Rings earlier this year and I'm just about to finish up The Hobbit. The Lord of The Rings is probably the best book I've ever read and I'm loving The Hobbit just as much. However, what really interested me (and caught me completely by surprise) was how much I enjoyed reading through the appendixes in the back of The Lord of The Rings. I couldn't wait to dive into the Silmarillion, but I was heavily encouraged to read The Hobbit first. So I bought The Annotated Hobbit (2nd edition) because everyone said it was the most in depth, complete and illustrated of all the versions of The Hobbit available.

So I figured finding a similar edition of The Silmarillion (with illustrations and all, getting the best version and the most bang for my buck) would be easy. Not so. In fact, it seems that hardly anyone prefers one edition over the other. 

I really enjoy the illustrations I've seen from The Silmarillion. The problem is I have no way of knowing which edition/version they are from. So, now that you have an idea of what I'm looking for, is the edition with Ted Nasmith's illustrations the best way to go, or is there another edition that most Tolkien fans tend to favor?

Thanks in advance for any help!


----------



## camlost (Apr 29, 2011)

Sorry in advance for not answering your question and injecting my opinion as if it were important, but...

Why illustrated? I think it is more fun to visualize the people and world yourself as you are reading the book.


----------



## butsizzle (Apr 29, 2011)

^I tend to recycle the same old characters faces in my head. For instance, I have trouble not picturing every Dwarf in The Hobbit looking like Gimli (same with Legolas for every Elf in Lord of The Rings).

I love the way Tolkien describes terrains and landscapes, for some reason I'm always able to get a detailed picture in my head of what he's trying to describe. But without seeing the movies first, I suppose I may have had trouble imagining all the different settings as well.

Plus, the artwork I've seen is just damn beautiful, and I'd love to be able to show a friend or maybe kids one day to try and inspire them to pick it up.


----------

