Nice to flip through. ( )

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 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! ( )

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 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. ( )

It wasn't too bad. I'm not very interested in art criticism, really, so the text wasn't all terribly interesting, but it had about 200 colour and black and white plates of Tolkien's drawings, paintings and sketches, and all of those were most interesting. He really was a good visual artist as well as being talented with the written word. I'd strongly recommend anyone interested in Tolkien to at least find it at their library to see the pictures. There are quite a few very beautiful and interesting pictures that I don't believe one can see anywhere else. ( )

Beautiful reproductions and clear text. ( )