Tree and Leaf was first published in 1964 as a collection containing “On Fairy-Stories.” The book also included Tolkien’s short story “Leaf by Niggle” and the poem “Mythopoeia.”
“On Fairy-Stories” originated as Tolkien’s 1939 Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews. In the essay, he discussed the nature and purposes of fairy stories, including recovery, escape and consolation. “Leaf by Niggle” presents an artist whose life and work acquire a symbolic shape.
The title joins the images of a tree and a leaf, which Tolkien used to suggest the relationship between a vast body of stories and an individual tale. Later editions and collections sometimes rearranged Tolkien’s shorter works, so publication context matters when identifying this edition.