Mr Bliss

Written by J.R.R. Tolkien

Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi

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…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9780007440528

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over sixty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Reviews for Mr Bliss

[texvelis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a really cute book that Tolkien wrote for his children. It is fun and I loved the pictures he drew for it.

[arkrayder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great quirky little book by Tolkien. His illustrations are really quite good and I love his handwritten text. It was a bit of a surprise to see Gaffer Gamgee included here but it was a good one and a nice nod to Tolkien's future masterpiece. This book would be enjoyed by fans and non fans of Tolkien alike. Grateful My wife brought it home from the library for me to read.

[ceora-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had no idea this book existed until I ran into it at a used book store the other day. I spent a minute going "Tolkien? *The* Tolkien? *That* Tolkien?," but I don't know that I've ever found a better book-related surprise.'Mr. Bliss' is cute, amusing, and just a great deal of fun for any child or Tolkien fan--reading it ten minutes after I got it was certainly worth being caught with a picture book on a college campus! It's clever and full of imaginative little characters (I adore the girabbit--can I have one?), and details. The style is recognizably Tolkien, and Mr. Bliss is more than a little hobbit-like.The added dimension of being able to read it in Tolkien's own handwriting is worth a star all on it's own, and though the illustrations are hardly brilliant works of art, they're certainly better than anything *I* could come up with. Anyways, if you love Tolkien, find this--it's worth the while of children and adults alike!

[bnielsen_30 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

En børnebog skrevet og illustreret af J. R. R. Tolkien.En hr. Fryd kan godt lide at gå med meget høje hatte, så hans hus har en meget høj hoveddør og der er højt til loftet.???