# Fresh from press: The Illustrated World of Tolkien



## Deleted member 12094 (Apr 7, 2020)

I had the opportunity to have a quick look at the epub version of this new (published Oct 2019) art book, so here I share some first impressions with those who feel an interest in such new publications.

The official synopsis (I'm quoting) reads as follows:

_Tolkien's works have inspired artists for generations and have given rise to myriad interpretations of the rich and magical worlds he created._​_The Illustrated World of Tolkien gathers together artworks and essays from expert illustrators, painters and etchers, and fascinating and scholarly writing from renowned Tolkien expert David Day, and is an exquisite reference guide for any fan of Tolkien's work, Tolkien's world and the imaginative brilliance his vision inspired._​
What you get for your £30.00 (apr. €34.00 or US$37.00) is image art, essentially. It does go accompanied by explanations from David Day, but their use seems limited to placing the images into context; it did not appear to me that their intention was to offer a deeper understanding of JRRT's literature. Pure literature amateurs may therefore find themselves poorly compensated for their coin, but on the other hand, there's a lot of fine visual in it for art lovers who appreciate it.

Speaking of which: my own appreciation may be a bit biased, being more of the literature type. I regretted the logic of ordering the artwork by theme and not by chronology, which means that you can't simply turn its pages one-by-one as you progress in your reading of TS, TH or LotR. You'd have to check through the book if there's a corresponding image to what you're currently reading. From the point of view of art lovers however this order is probably making much more sense. The shear number of artists makes it a real "melting pot" of different styles.

Artwork is grouped along the following themes:

In the Beginning
Peoples Races and Kingdoms
Beasts and Dragons
Sanctuaries Castles and Fortresses
Battles Wars and Worriers
Here is the list of artists:

Victor Ambrus
Graham Bence
John Blanche
Jaroslav Bradac
Allan Curless
Sally Davies
Jon Davis
Michael Foreman
Linda Garland
Melvyn Grant
Sam Hadley
David Kearney
Pauline Martin
Mauro Mazzara
Ian Miller
Andrew Mockett
Turner Mohan
Andrea Piparo
Sue Porter
Lidia Postma
Kip Rasmussen
David Roberts
Šárka Škorpíková
Jamie Whyte
The described version is from Nov 2019; ISBN 978-1-64517-198-0 (if I'm not mistaken the ISBN version of the printed version must be 9780753733806).


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## Olorgando (Apr 7, 2020)

I own two books (a paperback and a near-coffee-table-hardback) by Day, both probably from our early-1990s three-week vacation to Ireland where I basically pounced on anything in any bookshop in Dublin, Cork and Malahide (that my wife was unable to stop me from entering) that had "Tolkien" anywhere in the title. Half of my HoMe collection may also stem from those "raids". Day is viewed by many as being a dubious source for reliable information on JRRT, an opinion I can confirm. He has some howlers in his books making him a PJ equivalent of book authors. At least the artwork in his hardcover "Bestiary" that I own is not unfitting. That in contrast to another near-coffee-table-hardback by one Daniel Grotta (by date of publishing, trying to cash in on JRRT's 100th birthday in 1992 as did Day's stuff), about whose prose content I would have to re-read it to give a judgement, but whose artwork (by "the Brothers Hildebrandt"). technically skillful as it may be, leaves me with a distinctly sour "Disney Tinkerbelle" impression (both Orthanc and Barad-dûr look like maybe five-story towerlets!).


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