But his first drive to visit friends quickly becomes a catalogue of disasters… J.R.R. Tolkien invented and illustrated the book of Mr Bliss’s adventures for his own children when they were very young.

The book was handwritten with lots of detailed and uproarious colour pictures. This is a complete and highly imaginative tale of eccentricity. Some of the disasters that befall Mr Bliss could be blamed on his style of driving, but even he could not anticipate being hijacked by three bears.

As for what happened next – the readers, whether young or old, will want to discover for themselves. Republished in hardback to match his Letters from Father Christmas and other illustrated Tolkien editions, Mr Bliss is presented as a conventional illustrated storybook, and also with Tolkien's handwritten pages in facsimile at the back, and is sure to delight Tolkien fans of all ages.