Charles E. Noad was a programmer,

Tolkien scholar The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his High fantasy, fantasy writings. These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with Tolkien's legendarium, his legendarium t ...

, and a long-standing member of

the Tolkien Society The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and literary society devoted to the study and promotion of the life and works of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien. It began informally in 1969, and held its inaugural meeting in 1970. It ho ...

, which he helped to found.

Life

Charles Noad was born in 1947. He worked at

Imperial College, London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

as a computer programmer. A Tolkien fan, he was involved in the work of

, which he helped to found, for over 50 years, making him its longest-standing member; he served as its bibliographer and photographer, and belonged to its London local group, the Northfarthing Smial. The society described his essay "On the Construction of ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher in 1977, assisted by G ...

''" as "critically important"; it was published in the 2000 scholarly collection '' Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth'', edited by

Verlyn Flieger Verlyn Flieger (born 1933) is an author, editor, and Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she taught courses in comparative mythology, medieval literature, and the works of J. R. R. To ...

and

Carl F. Hostetter Carl Franklin Hostetter is a Tolkien scholar and NASA computer scientist. He has edited and annotated many of J. R. R. Tolkien's linguistic writings, publishing them in '' Vinyar Tengwar'' and ''Parma Eldalamberon'', and edited collections of Middl ...

. His friendship with

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English and naturalised French academic editor and writer. The son of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher edited 24 volumes based on his father's P ...

led to his

proofreading Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corr ...

several Middle-earth books including ''

The History of Middle-earth ''The History of Middle-earth'' is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin in the US. They collect and analyse much of J. R. R. Tolkien' ...

''. Several Tolkien scholars knew, corresponded with, and exchanged books with Noad for 40 years or more.

Douglas A. Anderson Douglas Allen Anderson (born December 30, 1959) is an American writer and editor on the subjects of fantasy and medieval literature, specializing in textual analysis of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. His 1988 edition of Tolkien's children's book ...

wrote that Noad's "eagle-eye as a proof-reader was legendary."

David Bratman David Bratman is a librarian and Tolkien scholar. Biography Bratman was born in Chicago to Robert Bratman, a physician, and his wife Nancy, an editor. He was one of four sons in the family. He was brought up in Cleveland, Ohio, and then in Cali ...

described Noad's "On the Construction of ''The Silmarillion''" as a "fascinating and well-researched and -argued" essay on what

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

would probably have done to that book, making it "more heterogeneous" than the volume edited by Christopher Tolkien and published a few months after Noad's essay.

John D. Rateliff John D. Rateliff (born December 9, 1958) is an American independent scholar of fantasy literature and author of roleplaying games. He specializes in the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly his Middle-earth writings, and wrote an ...

called Noad "the first fellow Tolkien scholar I met". Rateliff described Noad's influence on Tolkien research as "powerful but subtle", in particular on the 12-volume set of ''The History of Middle-earth''. He described Noad's proofreading of Rateliff's ''

The History of the Hobbit ''The History of The Hobbit'' is a two-volume study of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel ''The Hobbit''. It was first published by HarperCollins in 2007. It contains Tolkien's unpublished drafts of the novel, with commentary by J ...

'' as "meticulous".

Works

* 1977 ''The Trees, the Jewels and the Rings: A Discursive Enquiry Into Things Little Known on Middle-earth'' (44 pages).

The Tolkien Society The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and literary society devoted to the study and promotion of the life and works of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien. It began informally in 1969, and held its inaugural meeting in 1970. It ho ...

. . * 2000 "On the Construction of ''

''", in '' Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth''. Greenwood Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noad, Charles 1947 births 2023 deaths Tolkien scholars Tolkien Society Award winners