Who completed the editorial work on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion before its 1977 publication?

Christopher Tolkien completed the editorial work on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion before its publication in 1977. He arranged and edited material left by his father, who had died in 1973, and worked with fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay as an assistant.

The Silmarillion is not a single finished novel written in one continuous period. It brings together creation myths, histories, legends, genealogies, and language-related material covering the earlier ages of Tolkien’s imagined world. Many sections existed in different versions, so Christopher had to compare manuscripts and choose how to present them.

The book was published posthumously by George Allen & Unwin. Its title refers especially to the Silmarils, three jewels made by Fëanor, although the volume also contains the Ainulindalë, the Valaquenta, and later historical narratives.