It would have been the late JRR Tolkien’s 120th birthday today, and with the film of The Hobbit on the horizon, the great man has been on our mind a bit of late. So much so, in fact, that we dug out our battered old copy of The Lord of the Rings and started thumbing through it again over the holiday season. It’s one of about a gazillion different editions of Tolkien’s books that have been published around the world since The Hobbit first appeared in 1937 — so to celebrate its author’s birthday, we’ve put together a gallery of some of the most beautiful and/or weird cover artwork that’s adorned Tolkien’s work over the years. (Many of these come from the exhaustive gallery of covers here and/or from the Tolkien Library, both excellent resources for Tolkien completists.)
This is Tolkien trainspotters’ holy grail — a genuine first edition of The Hobbit (Or There and Back Again) dating way back to 1937. The dust jacket artwork is Tolkien’s own, and was used on subsequent reprintings — if you can find one of these original copies, it’ll set you back a cool $30,000 or so.
Comments (9)
Fleet Foxes used Pieter Breugel
Aw, shit, so they did. I always get those two mixed up, for some reason. (This is why I’m not the arts editor.)
Hey, I can add this old Bulgarian cover to the collection: https://p.twimg.com/AiTlwPICMAAJRzy.jpg
This is another Bulgarian cover of The Hobbit from 1975.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3153/wp000169.jpg
Oh wow, thanks arhivatora and chilko… they’re both fantastic!
The first Brazilian Edition, from the 70′s
http://www.valinor.com.br/files/2010/05/artenova_sda_livro11.jpg
Slide 10 – the Hebrew trilogy, you have them out of order. Fellowship is on the left, it should be on the right. Shifting the others left would fix it – Two Towers in the middle and Return on the left.
The Polish covers are by a great Polish painter, illustrator and poster designer Franciszek Starowiejski — http://www.poster.com.pl/starowieyski-2.htm
That first Brazilian edition mentioned by Mariana was published between 1974 and 1979, and the publishers odly decided to break each book in two, so there are six volumes:
1 – A Terra Mágica (The Magic Land) http://img.skoob.com.br/livros_new/5/127743/O_SENHOR_DOS_ANEIS__LIVRO_PRIMEIRO_1285117260P.jpg
2 – O Povo do Anel (The Ring’s Folk) – http://img.skoob.com.br/livros_new/5/129682/O_SENHOR_DOS_ANEIS__LIVRO_SEGUNDO_1285117798P.jpg
3 – As Duas Torres (The Two Towers) http://img.skoob.com.br/livros_new/5/129683/O_SENHOR_DOS_ANEIS__LIVRO_TERCEIRO_1285118195P.jpg
4 – O Retorno do Anel (The Return of the Ring) http://img.skoob.com.br/livros_new/5/129687/O_SENHOR_DOS_ANEIS__LIVRO_QUARTO_1285118574P.jpg
5 – O Cerco de Gondor (The Siege of Gondor) http://img.skoob.com.br/livros_new/5/129691/O_SENHOR_DOS_ANEIS__LIVRO_QUINTO_1285119549P.jpg
6 – O Retorno do Rei (The Return of the King) http://www.skoob.com.br/livro/129698-o-senhor-dos-aneis-livro-sexto
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