Middle-earth Envisioned by Brian J Robb and Paul Simpson.
Middle-earth Envisioned by Brian J Robb and Paul Simpson.
Over the decades, lots and lots of people have tried their hand at envisioning Middle-earth — in artwork, stage plays, musicals, television adaptations, comics, games, fan-art and, of course, animated and live action film.

Middle-earth Envisioned is a new, illustrated book From New York Times bestselling author Brian J. Robb and Paul Simpson, TV guide writer/reporter and the former editor of the Star Trek magazine, that comprehensively documents these portrayals of Middle-earth.

Among the highlights is previously unprinted artwork from English schoolteacher Mary Fairbairn. It has been noted that Tolkien himself wrote to Fairburn in 1968, praising her illustrations as “splendid. They are better pictures in themselves and also show far more attention to the text than any that have yet been submitted to me”. Continue reading “New book reveals previously unprinted artwork and documents the portrayal of Middle-earth across the decades”

As excitement for the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug builds, there are all kinds of goodies coming out to go along with the movie, including some fabulous movie tie in books, as well as some new editions of The Hobbit itself.  Our good friends at Harper Collins, publishers for all things Tolkien in Europe, have given us some amazing sets of NINE (well, actually 12, as one is a box set of four!) books to give away to four lucky readers!  The winners will receive:

Annual 2014

 

 

The 2014 Hobbit Annual

 

 

Movie Storybook

 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Movie Storybook

 

 

Official Movie Guide

 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Official Movie Guide

 

 

Ultimate Sticker Book

 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Ultimate Sticker Book

 

 

Visual Companion

 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Visual Companion

 

 

box set

 

 

A box set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings paperback editions with movie tie in covers

 

 

Pocket Hobbit

 

 

Pocket Hobbit – a mini, hardback edition of the book!

 

 

The Hobbit

 

 

A new paperback edition of The Hobbit with Desolation of Smaug movie tie in cover

 

 

Chronicles Art and Design

 

 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles – Art and Design from WETA

 

All of these books could be yours!  And because we love our readers everywhere, this competition is open worldwide.  All you have to do to win, wherever you are in the world, is answer one simple question and complete the form below.  The competition runs until the opening of the movie, on December 13th; after which we’ll pick four winners at random, from all the correct entries.
Continue reading “Harper Collins competition – win a complete set of new Hobbit publications”

The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014
The Desolation of Smaug Annual 2014
If you’ve been thinking about grabbing yourself a copy of The Desolation of Smaug 2014 Annual, the folks at German website Premium Format have posted up a bunch of great images (instead of the terrible ones you usually see that use way too much flash) that showcase just how good this hardcover book looks.

There are a few movie spoiler images. In particular, if you’re avoiding Bear Beorn, you’ll want to look away now. We’ve previously covered the spoiler contents of the book. If you’re interested in those, check out this post from last month. Continue reading “New images from and review of The Desolation of Smaug 2014 Annual”

The Hobbit Visual Companion Our friends at Harper Collins — the publishers of Tolkien in the UK -– tell us that they’re running another competition in addition to their How do you see Smaug? that is on right now.

This new competition offers the chance to win The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion signed by four members the cast — Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Richard Armitage. Continue reading “Win a copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion that has been signed by the cast members!”

Smaug by Donato GiancolaOur good friends at Harper Collins – Tolkien publishers in the UK – are running a competition where they want to see YOUR version of Tolkien’s mighty dragon Smaug!  They say:

‘Smaug is an incredible and mysterious character, his sleep and anger equally frightful.  J.R.R. Tolkien described and illustrated the dragon with awe-inspiring words and artworks.  Now it’s your turn to create your version of Smaug, as you imagined it when you first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s descriptions.  Illustrators, designers, Hobbit fans of all ages – anyone can enter the competition and submit their Smaug’s artworks to win a fantastic grand prize!’

That prize is a copy of your own illustration, beautifully mounted on canvas!  The winner will also get a collection of Harper Collins Hobbit books.  Ten runners-up will win an exclusive, deluxe print of their artworks.

Smaug, The HobbitGet out those pens, pencils, inks, paint and whatever else takes your fancy, grab a copy of The Hobbit, reread Tolkien’s description of the fiery worm, and get illustrating!  Full details of the contest, and where to submit your artwork, can be found here.  The contest runs until December 13th, when (in many countries) we’ll finally be able to see Peter Jackson’s Smaug in all his glory on the big screen!

Harper Collins will be releasing various movie tie-in books for The Desolation of Smaug on November 7th.  We’ll bring you details – and a chance to win copies! – nearer the time.  Meanwhile you can find more information at Harper Collins’ website, here.

[Click here to enter the Smaug Artwork competition.]

 

Gandalf Thanks to our friends at Hobbitfilm.it, we have another seven new art images from The Desolation of Smaug.

Nothing dramatically revealing here, but we do like the moody shot of a swampy Mirkwood forest (is that the Company crossing a vast fallen tree?), and the RA army will undoubtedly appreciate what seems to be a new still of Thorin Oakenshield. Continue reading “Seven new images from the 2014 Desolation of Smaug Desk Diary!”