Hardback
The Art of the Hobbit
By J. R. R. Tolkien, Edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
A sumptuous full colour art book containing the complete collection of more than 100 sketches, drawings, paintings and maps created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Hobbit.
When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he was already an accomplished amateur artist, and drew illustrations for his book while it was still in manuscript. The Hobbit as first printed had ten black and white pictures, two maps, and binding and dust-jacket designs by its author. Later, Tolkien also painted five scenes for colour plates which are some of his best work. His illustrations for The Hobbit add an extra dimension to that remarkable book, and have long influenced how readers imagine Bilbo Baggins and his world.
The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is the complete collection of the artwork created by the author for his story. Including related pictures, more than one hundred sketches, drawings, paintings, maps, and plans are presented here, preliminary and alternate versions and experimental designs as well as finished art. Using fresh digital scans from the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford and Marquette University in Wisconsin, Tolkien’s Hobbit pictures can be seen more vividly than ever before.
Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, two of the world’s leading Tolkien scholars, have edited the book and provide an expert introduction and comments. Readers who have enjoyed The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien will find much of interest also in The Art of The Hobbit.
‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’THE GUARDIAN -
‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’FINANCIAL TIMES -
‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’WASHINGTON POST -