Christina Scull

This book features all the illustrations Tolkien has ever done of The Hobbit - from just mere scribbles and sketches to the colorful and fully developed pictures that were published in the finished work in the first British and American editions and later on. In the book, we follow the journey from Hobbiton to the Lonely Mountain and back, each chapter devoted to a place in the story and the pictures Tolkien drew and painted of that place. The last chapters are reserved for binding designs show more and the dust jacket, and a specific one on portraits of Bilbo. There are 106 pictures in total, many of them printed on a full page, and each and everyone is explained, details are pointed out and references to other pictures and Tolkien's sources are given. It is a wonderful guide because I surely would have missed many details or specific aspects of interest without that information. I am a bit ambivalent on Tolkien's pictures themselves - there are some I absolutely love (prints of a few of them adore my living room), but some I don't really care for because the style is not one I prefer. These are specifically the very stylized ones, probably because I first saw Alan Lee's and John Howe's pictures, and I'll always imagine Middle-earth like that. However, I am just utterly impressed by Tolkien's ability not only to be a writer, a professor of medieval literature and languages, AND a painter, too. Although he always sold himself short, I think the pictures show great talent. Like his writing, they are painstakingly done, full of details and often done several times over until Tolkien was content. Thus, there are sometimes nearly a dozen pictures of the same scene or place.
Moreover, you can learn a lot about the book industry and printing in the 1930s - it is amazing to read how Tolkien had to bargain for an additional color in a painting because that was so expensive. Most pictures were just black and white, others with one or two additional colors, and just the most important had more. Very often, his artistic ideas had to be put back due to costs.
I just loved this book and savored every page - and painting - of it. I think it is a great read for everyone who loves The Hobbit and wants to know more about its history, and for people interested in illustrations or bookish history in general. show less

I recently reread (for the nth time, although for the first time in years) “The Lord of the Rings” along with this reader’s companion. If you are one of those people who became a LOTR fan in your youth, learned how to write in Elvish, love the Simarillion, and read the book many times, I highly recommend reading it again along with this commentary. It helped me appreciate even more how the depth of Tolkien’s academic scholarship permeates every word in LOTR. It also helped change my show more mind and I now consider Tolkien not only a great story teller and world builder, but an incredible writer. I even for the first time appreciate and enjoy his poetry.

I should add that 57 years after I first read LOTR, I appreciate even more his incredible world building, and his deep exploration of human psychology in a fantasy setting. He is truly the master of the genre and has never yet been surpassed. But he also deserves to be appreciated as a great writer, not just in his genre.

As a side note, perhaps it is related to my current age, but I now find LOTR incredibly sad and depressing. The commentary just helped deepen that feeling. I never before fully appreciated how Catholicism is such a pessimistic religion and how deeply it’s despairing view of human nature permeates Tolkien’s writing. show less

Even though the authors of this book claim to have only presented a collection of a mere few hundred of J.R.R. Tolkien's art works I think that they did a marvelous job showing the range and breadth of his skills and subjects. They focused less on the published pieces (presumably because we can see them elsewhere) than on preliminary sketches, pieces not related to specific Middle Earth writings, and ephemera, which really presented a good view of Tolkien's evolution as an artist. Much of show more his imagery feeds into the Middle Earth mythos later on (especially in regards to nature scenery), so seeing this source material and having it discussed as part of the larger artistic process sets the stage for researchers, Tolkien-enthosiasts, and other artists/writers.

The most illuminating topic of this book for me is the discussion of Tolkien's influence on the design process for the appreance for his books. Not only did he have strong opinions on everything from fonts to shades of colour, but he produced many templates (to be improved upon by other artists, as he humbly felt that he had little talent in this area). Many of these designs have obvious flaws, but many of his ideas and designs were actually used on the initial publications and more still have been used on modern editions! show less

Beautiful reproductions of Tolkien's artwork, from his earliest surviving works to his last. Although many of the images have been reproduced in a variety of other books, many more are presented for the first time (when originally published).

Tolkien was typically dismissive of his ability as an artist, and whilst he is sometimes correct in that self-evaluation, to the appreciative reader of his stories, to have the visual interpretations of these imagined worlds from the hand of the mind show more that fashioned them is an immeasurable gift. How fortunate we are that his evident delight in the creation of his artworks overcame his too critical judgement.

Hammond's and Scull's text is scholarly, but not dry, and gives context to Tolkien's art that is sure to interest (if not delight) any Tolkienista. show less