Jim Allan

This isn't the sort of book I'm going to *read* per se, it's somewhere between a reference and a scholarly tome. I've had a reasonable look through it (I'm interested in Celtic languages and linguistics) and it seems well-done, but equally I'm not going to get much use out of it unless/until I suddenly need to use Tolkeinesque languages accurately.

It's hard to remember what the world was like, post-Letters by Tolkien, but pre-Silmarillion. The speculation was rife, and Jim Allan's book is the best of what was produced at this time.

This is the book that convinced me to try Amazon.com, back in the last century. I had been looking for this very book for about 15 years, but no bookstore in my country was ever able to order it. I asked a few booksellers in the UK, and for them too the book was essentially an urban legend!
Then I saw that Amazon.com was supposed to sell it... I could barely believe it. Out came the credit card, and 4 weeks later the precious tome was mine. Sweet.