Unfinished Tales was published posthumously in 1980 as an edited collection of unfinished writings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The book was edited by Christopher Tolkien and gathers narratives connected with Middle-earth from different periods of Tolkien’s work. It includes material about Númenor, the First Age, the Third Age, and characters such as Galadriel, Gandalf, and Isildur.
Unlike a conventional novel, Unfinished Tales preserves many incomplete or variant texts. Christopher added editorial commentary explaining differences, gaps, and relationships among the manuscripts.
The title is sometimes confused with The History of Middle-earth, a later twelve-volume series published between 1983 and 1996. Unfinished Tales is a single volume, issued in 1980, and is designed as a collection of substantial narrative fragments.