The illustrated children’s book featuring the bear-like Mr. Bliss is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Mr. Bliss.
Tolkien wrote and illustrated Mr. Bliss around 1936. Its central character is an eccentric man who buys three cars and repeatedly gets into trouble while driving them. The story includes comic encounters with bears, children, and angry villagers, giving it a playful style very different from the grand mythology of Middle-earth.
The book was published posthumously in 1982 by George Allen & Unwin. Tolkien’s original drawings were reproduced alongside the text, allowing readers to see the unusual visual world he created for the story. The illustrations include maps, signs, and decorative lettering.
Mr. Bliss is often grouped with Tolkien’s other shorter imaginative works, such as Roverandom and Farmer Giles of Ham, but it is not a Middle-earth tale. The bear-like figures and the title character belong to a separate comic setting. This makes the book especially useful for seeing Tolkien as both an author and an artist.