David Day's A Tolkien Bestiary, is a scholarly, definitive and enchantingly beautiful explanation of all the imaginary beasts, monsters, races, nations, deities, fauna and flora of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy worlds of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands.

David Day has identified, analyzed, and described 129 separate races.  Each is lucidly explained in terms of its physical appearance, language, behaviour and culture. A Tolkien Bestiary does not retell their stories: its purpose is to make Tolkien's own books more accessible by identifying his living creatures and explaining their roles in his epic world. 

A Tolkien Bestiary is more than a useful reference book for the reader of Tolkien's own books. It also seeks to do justice to the creatures and their world through more than one hundred black-and-white fantasy illustrations as spectacular as any ever produced.  All kinds of beings are shown, be they vast winged dragons, earthbound creatures of evil or simple innocent flowers.  Further, there are 36 incomparable paintings in full color that vividly imagine the most important moments in the history of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands.

In addition there are: a newly conceived map, a chronology of all the ages, a general index and a special index referring readers back to Tolkien's original works for the stories of the races described in the Bestiary.

Spectacular in itself, the value of A Tolkien Bestiary lies in its ability to assist in opening up Tolkien's magical world through impeccably researched explanations and haunting, atmospheric illustrations of a rare brilliance.

From the dust jacket