Previously unseen illustrations produced for The Hobbit by its author, J R R Tolkien, will be published for the first time this week. The paintings and sketches, which were not used when the seminal children’s novel came out in 1937, were recently discovered in the Bodleian Library, in Oxford.
The pen and ink drawings and a series of watercolours, three of which are reproduced here, were discovered by researchers in material bequeathed by the author’s estate to the library in 1979.
They were looking for material to mark next year’s 75th anniversary of Tolkien’s second book. The illustrations, together with the long-awaited film version of the book due to appear in cinemas next year, are likely to stimulate renewed interest in The Hobbit. More..
