Mr Bliss, J. R. R. Tolkien
Mr Bliss, J. R. R. Tolkien
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

Mr Bliss

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrator: Sir Derek Jacobi

Unabridged: 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 09/29/2011

Synopsis

A brand new edition of the long unavailable children’s story, written and illustrated by the author of The Hobbit and Letters from father Christmas, with newly scanned manuscript pages and redesigned text. Now available as an audio edition. Professor J.R.R. Tolkien invented and illustrated the book of Mr Bliss’s adventures for his own children when they were very young. The story is reproduced here exactly as he created it – handwritten with lots of detailed and uproarious colour pictures. This is a complete and highly imaginative tale of eccentricity. Mr Bliss, a man notable for his immensely tall hats and for the girabbit in his garden, takes the whimsical decision to buy a motor car. But his first drive to visit friends quickly becomes a catalogue of disasters. Some of these could be blamed on Mr Bliss’s style of driving, but even he could not anticipate being hijacked by three bears. As for what happened next – the readers, whether young or old, will want to discover for themselves. Thankfully all ended well, and even the yellow motor car with red wheels (to which Mr Bliss has taken an understandable and great dislike), came in useful at the end…

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on May 20, 2017

Many of Tolkien’s writings are child friendly, and none more so than this. If anything, of all his works, this is the one aimed at the youngest reading audience. It is a very simple story full of humour and silly mishaps. It was certainly entertaining to read in parts, but as a child I know I would......more

Goodreads review by Michael on September 02, 2015

I'm a self-confessed Tolkien nut but this was a book I'm sure even neutrals would love. It's a beautifully illustrated and quirky children's book, the pictures drawn by Tolkien himself. Not just a great writer but a talented artist also! What a contrast to Middle-earth and the tales of good and evil.......more

Goodreads review by Pflanzis on January 05, 2025

Wilde Geschichte! 😂 Ich musste sehr oft schmunzeln und bin großer Fan vom Giraffinchen (Girabbit) geworden. 🧡......more

Goodreads review by Jerry on October 01, 2020

I haven't been a fan of picture books since I was in third grade. While I love comics, and I don't mind if a chapter book has an illustration here and there, I've found "easy readers" too basic and boring for my tastes since I was eight. Prior to requesting this for Tolkien and Lewis month a while b......more

Goodreads review by Justin on December 24, 2022

I found this beautiful edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's comical story he wrote for his children at Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin, Ireland when I was on holiday recently. His illustrations in this book are very good! The story is very entertaining, and had me roaring with laughter. I finished it when......more

Quotes

‘Owes a little to Beatrix Potter in its ironical humour and to Edward Lear in the style of its drawings, though Tolkien’s approach is less grotesque and more delicate than Lear’s.’ Humphrey Carpenter ‘A celebration, in the spirit of The Wind in the Willows, of a vanished, vulgar England where everybody did – and spoke – exactly as he pleased, and life was consequently a series of amiable abrupt collisions, feebly refereed by the police in the shape of Sergeant Boffin. Although the book ought to feel dated, … dating has done little harm to Tom Kitten or Mr Badger, and there seems no reason why it should here.’ T.A. Shippey, TLS

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