Dragons, also called Lecture on Dragons or Essay on Dragons, is a lecture by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is referenced as "Ms. Tolk. A61. fols. 98-125" in the Tolkien's papers conserved at the Bodleian Library.
The lecture was originally given on 1 January 1938 to children at the University of Oxford Museum. Tolkien described two kinds of dragons, "'creeping' and 'winged' but, in general, large, deadly, coiling serpent-creatures".[1]
Extended extracts were published by Christina Scull in Leaves from the Tree (1991), by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (1995) and in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006), and by John Rateliff in The History of The Hobbit (2007). In 2018, the lecture was published in full, included in The Hobbit Facsimile Gift Edition. It is also included in an 88-paged booklet that comes with the 2023 hardcover Illustrated by the Author deluxe edition.
References
- ↑ Quoted in Tree of Tales.