The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
As Tolkien fans mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of The Hobbit and await the first film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, following his triumphant Lord of the Rings epic, they can peruse the profoundly imaginative writer’s artwork for his first published novel. Coauthors Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull continue their championing of Tolkien’s artistry, launched with J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (1995), with this handsome and informative showcase for the sketches, plans, drawings, maps, and paintings—many never before published or reproduced in color—that Tolkien created as he refined his vision and readied his manuscript for publication. Readers can see Tolkien clarifying his layout of the village of Hobbiton, based on prehistoric European lake settlements, and creating the dramatic landscapes his characters traverse based on his walking tour through the Swiss Alps. Tolkien’s Hobbit illustrations, Hammond and Scull attest in their consistently intriguing commentary, are “among the finest work he achieved as an artist.” Tolkien’s intimate and inventive handmade creations stand in evocative contrast to cinematic opulence. --Donna Seaman