Chronological Table

This table gives the complete chronological ordering of Tolkien's stories. If you use the Chronological Tolkien system, you will read the stories in the order they are listed in this table.

The numerals i, ii, iii, and iv refer to the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Ages of Middle-earth. Dates in the First Age count from the creation of the sun. Tolkien gives us very little information about how much time passed in the Age of the Lamps and the Age of the Trees!

The page numbers listed here are for the classic Houghton-Mifflin hardcover editions. This is just to give you a sense of the size of each section. To see the exact places each section begins and ends, and for the page numbers of other editions, see the full book editions list.

In this table, the books are referred to by the following abbreviations:

• S is The Silmarillion
• U is Unfinished Tales
• C is The Children of Húrin
• H is The Hobbit
• F, T, R are the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings

Also, note that the book abbreviations in the table are color-coded. This helps to illustrate the flow of the reading: for example, you can see that the First Age stories are mostly contained in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The Children of Húrin, while The Return of the King is the most dominant book towards the end.

This table isn't designed to guide you through the reading process. If you want to read your books using the Chronological Tolkien system, use the Calculator to customize your individual editions so they can be read chronologically!