Who edited and published J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfinished mythology The Silmarillion after Tolkien’s death?

Christopher Tolkien edited and published The Silmarillion after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death.

The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977, four years after Tolkien died. Christopher Tolkien assembled and edited material that his father had developed, revised, and expanded over many decades. The result presents the creation of Tolkien’s universe, the history of the Elves, and major events of the First Age.

The book is not a conventional novel with one continuous narrative. It includes the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth, and “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.” These sections provide the deeper history behind The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Christopher Tolkien’s editorial role is sometimes confused with that of publisher Rayner Unwin, whose firm issued many of Tolkien’s books. Christopher prepared the posthumous text; George Allen & Unwin published the first edition.