Who edited and helped prepare J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion for publication?

Christopher Tolkien edited and helped prepare J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion for publication.

The book appeared posthumously in 1977, four years after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death. It brings together creation stories, legends of the Elves, and the histories of the First Age and later periods of Tolkien’s imagined world.

J.R.R. Tolkien left behind many versions, drafts, notes, and unfinished arrangements. Christopher Tolkien selected, organized, and edited this extensive material, working with the publisher to create a readable volume. Because the source texts were not a single completed manuscript, the published book reflects editorial decisions as well as Tolkien’s own writing.

The Silmarillion is not a direct sequel to The Lord of the Rings. It is a mythological history of Arda, including the creation of the world, the Valar, the Silmarils, and the tragic history of the Noldorin Elves.