To celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit, publishing house HarperCollins has produced a covetable collection of 110 original illustrations—'The Art of the Hobbit'—by J.R.R. Tolkien, of which two dozens have never been published before.
These rare drawings—which range from pencil sketches and ink line drawings to watercolors—were uncovered at the writer’s archives at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and only recently digitized.
While the published version of the children’s classic consisted only of 20 illustrations by its author, Tolkien had actually made more than a hundred pictures to help bring his legendary story to life.
According to HarperCollins’ David Brawn, the book “includes his conceptual sketches for the cover design, a couple of early versions of the maps and pages where he's experimenting with the runic forms, as well as a couple of manuscript pages”.
This will make a handsome addition to the library of any Tolkien fan—it can be purchased here.
[via The Guardian, images via Brainpickings]