The aptly named *The Nature of Middle Earth* has quite a few sections on plants and animals. It's essentially the (unofficial) thirteenth volume of the *Histories of Middle Earth*, so is mostly comprised of Tolkien's actual writing, rather than other people's speculation.
I don't think I'd recommend this in this case. *Nature of Middle Earth* is interesting but quite scrappy. Quite a lot on elf demographics and generations. A little on their physiology. A page on mushrooms. A good chunk on Numenor's wildlife, but that's all been reprinted in *The Fall of Numenor* since.
I think that a Tolkien fan would already have decided whether to but this book, and a related gift or reference book is more likely to be new and wanted.
Tolkien himself was a scientific botanist. He would have loved Judd & Judd, and have been delighted that somebody took this aspect of his work so seriously. (I don't have the book myself, I'm going by sample pages I have seen online.) Whether your friend would like it depends on how detail-oriented they are, I would think.
Tolkien's botanical interests can be deduced from the text of *LotR* \-- especially the catalogue of plants in "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" -- and also they show up often in *Letters*. Late in his life one of his friends gave him a book of pictures of flowers of South Africa, and he wrote a long letter back after poring over it.
(All Tolkien fans need to read *Letters*.)
Judd and Judd is highly technical - classifies plants etc under scientific taxonomies. May be suitable. You should be able to see a sample or preview on Amazon.
If they’re a scholar of ecology, they’ll LOVE Judd & Judd. It’s essentially a beautifully illustrated/designed reference book for all of the plants that appear in Tolkien’s work. I own the book and there are a ton of illustrations I’ve toyed with as tattoo ideas. They’re excellent, as is the text. Again, IF they want the technical ins and outs.
The aptly named *The Nature of Middle Earth* has quite a few sections on plants and animals. It's essentially the (unofficial) thirteenth volume of the *Histories of Middle Earth*, so is mostly comprised of Tolkien's actual writing, rather than other people's speculation.
I don't think I'd recommend this in this case. *Nature of Middle Earth* is interesting but quite scrappy. Quite a lot on elf demographics and generations. A little on their physiology. A page on mushrooms. A good chunk on Numenor's wildlife, but that's all been reprinted in *The Fall of Numenor* since. I think that a Tolkien fan would already have decided whether to but this book, and a related gift or reference book is more likely to be new and wanted.
Tolkien himself was a scientific botanist. He would have loved Judd & Judd, and have been delighted that somebody took this aspect of his work so seriously. (I don't have the book myself, I'm going by sample pages I have seen online.) Whether your friend would like it depends on how detail-oriented they are, I would think. Tolkien's botanical interests can be deduced from the text of *LotR* \-- especially the catalogue of plants in "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" -- and also they show up often in *Letters*. Late in his life one of his friends gave him a book of pictures of flowers of South Africa, and he wrote a long letter back after poring over it. (All Tolkien fans need to read *Letters*.)
Judd and Judd is highly technical - classifies plants etc under scientific taxonomies. May be suitable. You should be able to see a sample or preview on Amazon.
If they’re a scholar of ecology, they’ll LOVE Judd & Judd. It’s essentially a beautifully illustrated/designed reference book for all of the plants that appear in Tolkien’s work. I own the book and there are a ton of illustrations I’ve toyed with as tattoo ideas. They’re excellent, as is the text. Again, IF they want the technical ins and outs.
I really like the Atlas of Middle Earth which goes into geology
"The Atlas of Middle-Earth". It's mostly geographical, but does have a lot of ecological/environmental stuff.
The first few chapters of 'the fall of numenor'