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So for my birthday today I received "Tolkien A Dictionary" and "An Atlas of Tolkien" as presents. I'll be listing any notable details I find during my scour of the book along with certain speculations. Wish me luck.

"A decade later, Tolkien gave a journalist a more exact location: 'the action of the story takes place in the North-west of Middle-earth, equivalent in latitude to the coastline of Europe and the north shore of the Mediterranean."

"If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken ( as intended ) to be about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence."

What a find right off the bat. With these measurements and comparitively scaled maps of the different continents we can measure the approximate distances between landmarks in LotR. Now we won't have to measure distances by vague statements like "As the crow flies." Cross your fingers for those maps boys.

This next one many of you are probably already familiar with but for uninitiated it should clear up any confusion on shape and dimensions of Arda in relation to Ea. Arda being the place where physical beings exist ( Earth ) and Ea being the universe in its entirety. I've noticed people have often confused Arda and Ea as one and the same when that's not the case. Hopefully the following quote will help to clear that up.

"It begins with a new creation myth which results in the making of a flat planet within spheres of air and light. It is inhabited by the godlike Valar, and eventually Elves, Dwarves, Ents and Orcs. According to Tolkien's own reckoning ( in his earliest Annals of Valimar ), we are 30,000 years into the history of this world before the human race appears. Another 3,900 years pass before the cataclysmic of the Atlantis-like culture of Numenor, resulting in this mythical world's transformation into the globed world we know today."

In the above quote he references the attack on Valinor by Numenor and the separation of the mortal lands ( Middle Earth ) from the Undying Lands ( Valinor ). Elves of course were still allowed to cross the sea and arrive in Valinor when they grew weary of the mortal lands being immortal beings themselves but this does not alter the fact that the Valar altered the structure of Arda into that of a globe for nearly all other mortals who attempted to make the journey but for a select few ( Ring-bearers ). The way to Valinor for the elves was opened up by the Valar and it can be assumed they were magically transported by Ulmo, the Lord of the Waters.

So confirming that the maps I found had the same size disparities as the ones depicted in the Atlas I feel confident in posting the following image as an accurate depiction of Arda in size and distance.

http://i.imgur.com/X8rwCvI.jpg

A good book. If I'm not mistaken, however, it's greatest fault is that it relies too much on details of Aman and the lands of the West from early concepts.

Aman is massive. I wish there was a more detailed history of it.