Background
The book began as an attempt to explain the meaning of Faery by means of a story about a cook and his cake. This was intended to be part of a preface by Tolkien to George MacDonald's famous fairy story "The Golden Key". But Tolkien's story grew to become a tale in its own right.
The most recent (2005) edition, edited by Verlyn Flieger, includes a previously unpublished essay by Tolkien, explaining the background and just why the elf-king spent so long in Wootton Major. It also explains how the story grew from this first idea into the published version.
The book was originally called "The Great Cake", but the title was changed to "Smith of Wootton Major" in an attempt to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse.
The story was first published in the Christmas edition of Redbook magazine, New York on # 23 November 1967 but without the illustrations by Pauline Baynes that appeared in the published book.
It is not connected to the Middle-earth legendarium, except by the thematic "Faery" motif of the traveller who journeys to a land which lies beyond the normal world and is usually beyond the reach of mortals. (Smith can thus be likened to Beren in the realm of Thingol, or Eärendil journeying to Valinor, or Ælfwine's visit to Tol Eressëa.)
It is sometimes published in an omnibus edition with Farmer Giles of Ham, another Tolkien novella with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. The two stories are not obviously linked, other than by their common authorship. These two, together with The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Leaf by Niggle, have appeared as Tales from the Perilous Realm.
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