J. R. R. TOLKIEN ...

May be more well known for his larger works like 'The Lord of The Rings' and 'The Silmarillion' but he also published a number of short stories that if not quite so epic or grand are just as well crafted and worthy of attention.

They are: 

'Leaf by Niggle' (a semi-autobiographical story on creativity and spiritualist fairytale)

'Smith of Wootton Major' (a fairytale about the passing on of knowledge and journeys into faerie)

'Farmer Giles of Ham' (a charming story that has similarities to The Hobbit and satirizes academia) 

'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book' (a collection of poems that follow the further exploits of the character)

'Roverandom' (a novella about the adventures of a young dog turned into a toy by a wizard that was written for his son Michael when he lost his favorite toy dog)

The last three are illustrated by Pauline Baynes who also did the illustrations for C. S. Lewis's 'Narnia' Series.

            © J. R. R. Tolkien & Pauline Baynes     © J. R. R. Tolkien & Pauline Baynes

The stories are all short but rich in imagery and incident. The poems – all of which do not involve Tom Bombadil – are really good and Tolkien's expertise as a poet is often overlooked. I will not go into detail about each story as they are widely available and already well studied and described, but will say that they each stand on their own really well and you do not need to have read any of his other works to enjoy them. They paint a much richer picture of Tolkien and stand well alongside his other works.

If you like any of these stories you may be interested to know that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote many other pieces of literature and poetry for which I would recommend going to Wikipedia or tolkiengateway.net for a more comprehensive list. 

Here's a link to 'Leaf by Niggle' on Amazon where you can buy the book. 

And here's a link to 'Smith of Wootton Major' on Amazon where you can buy the book.

And here's a link to 'Farmer Giles of Ham' on Amazon where you can buy the book.

And here's a link to 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book' on Amazon where you can buy the book.

And here's a link to 'Roverandom' on Amazon where you can buy the book.

And here's a link to Pauline Bayne's website where you can see some of her other artwork.