With Christopher Tolkien as your guide, take a tour through this colourful gallery of enchanting art produced by J.R.R. Tolkien and presented in an elegant new slipcased edition.

This collection of pictures, with a text by Christopher Tolkien, now reissued after almost 30 years confirms J.R.R. Tolkien’s considerable talent as an artist. It provides fascinating insight into his visual conception of many of the places and events familiar to readers of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

Examples of his art range from delicate watercolours depicting Rivendell, the Forest of Lothlorien, Smaug, and Old Man Willow, to drawings and sketches of Moria Gate and Minas Tirith. Together they form a comprehensive collection of Tolkien’s own illustrations for his most popular books.

Also included are many of his beautiful designs showing patterns of flowers and trees, friezes, tapestries and heraldic devices associated with the world of Middle-earth. In their variety and scope they provide abundant visual evidence of the richness of his imagination.

This enchanting gallery was personally selected by Christopher Tolkien who, through detailed notes on the sources for each picture, provides unique insight into the artistic vision of his father, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Osric the Extraordinary Owl tells the story of a little owl who considers his life to be as dull, grey and uninteresting as his feathers and goes in search of a more colourful identity.

This book is a collaboration between two friends: the renowned illustrator Pauline Baynes – celebrated for her incomparable illustrations to the seven volumes in C S Lewis’ much-loved ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ and books by  J R R Tolkien, along with treasured maps of Middle-earth and Narnia – and the award-winning writer and broadcaster, Brian Sibley, who has written about both Lewis and Tolkien and was responsible for the legendary  BBC Radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings.

It was at the Tolkien Society’s 50^th anniversary conference in 2019, when noted Tolkien artist Jay Johnstone met Brian Sibley and another of Pauline’s friends, Wayne G. Hammond, who has curatorship of the Pauline Baynes bequest of paintings and drawings. Out of that Tolkien encounter came the decision to finally get Osric’s saga into print.

This collector’s edition hardback book with a foreword by Wayne G. Hammond has been designed and produced by Jay Johnstone and comes in a gilded presentation box.

TRIPLE SIGNED
Each Hardback book is individually signed and numbered by Jay Johnstone and comes with signed book plates by Brian Sibley & Wayne G. Hammond.