To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, a sumptuous full colour art book containing the complete collection of more than 100 Hobbit sketches, drawings, paintings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien.
When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he was already an accomplished amateur artist, and drew illustrations for his book while it was still in manuscript. The Hobbit as first printed had ten black and white pictures, two maps, and binding and dust-jacket designs by its author. Later, Tolkien also painted five scenes for colour plates which are some of his best work. His illustrations for The Hobbit add an extra dimension to that remarkable book, and have long influenced how readers imagine Bilbo Baggins and his world.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, the complete artwork created by the author for his story has been collected in The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Including related pictures, more than one hundred sketches, drawings, paintings, maps, and plans are presented here, preliminary and alternate versions and experimental designs as well as finished art. Some of these images are now published for the first time, and others for the first time in colour. Fresh digital scans from the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford and Marquette University in Wisconsin allow Tolkien’s Hobbit pictures to be seen more vividly than ever before.
The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has been written and edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, two of the leading experts on Tolkien and authors of the acclaimed J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, and The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide.

作者簡介

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

　　約翰·羅納德·瑞爾·托爾金（J.R.R. Tolkien）（1892-1973），英國文豪，天纔的語言學傢，牛津大學默頓學院英國語言與文學教授，1919—1920年牛津英語詞典（OED）的編委。他以瑰麗的想像和精深的語言，建立瞭一個英語世界的全新神話體係。托爾金的雄心壯誌不在於寫作一個傳奇故事，或一部史詩。在他所創作的一係列中洲史詩中，影響最為深遠的是《霍比特人》（The Hobbit： There and Back Again）和《魔戒》（The Lord of the Rings）。這兩部巨作被譽為當代奇幻作品的鼻祖，至今已暢銷2.5億餘冊，被翻譯成60餘種語言。美國每年銷售的大約一億本平裝書中，就有四分之一可以追溯到托爾金的作品。《魔戒》被票選為“兩韆年以來最重要的書”。由托爾金小說改編的電影《指環王》、《霍比特人》掀起21世紀奇幻文藝的全麵復興，世界拜倒在他腳下。