Lake-Town_TORn

Its always nice to hear from Weta Workshop, but its especially nice when they drop something beautiful in our mailbox. This time it is concept art work from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art & Design,” book. Written by Daniel Falconer, this is likely to be an amazing book. TORn got its first look at a similar book by Falconer for the previous movie and it turned out to be as stunning as we imagined it might be. Those who have had occasion to meet the author, who does extensive design work for Weta, know that he is gracious and smart and passionate about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Click for much larger version
Click for larger version
While the masses in the U.S. are out shopping, you can order one of these now and during the pre-order phase, your book gets signed by the concept artists and comes with a “Dragon’s Gold” for Weta discounts and prizes. As you can see above, the image we received is of Lake-Town, from the desks of Alan Lee (who writes the book’s introduction) and John Howe. And please click for the larger version, it is definitely worth

They also included some previously released Elf concept art which you can see below. You can order the book RIGHT HERE. Expect this art to pop up in other places soon and more will be released as Weta and HarperCollins see fit, but for Hobbit fans, this may be among the very best of seasonal gifts.

Elven_TORn

Jude Fisher HeadshotFor those of us who have made a habit out of collecting the various tie-in books that have been released alongside Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations – Jude Fisher is a name that springs instantly to mind. She is the author of the Visual Companion books that have come out with each Continue reading “Creating a Visual Companion: Jude Fisher talks about her life in Middle-earth”

 

The Yiddish Hobbit Cover“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.”

One of the great joys of these words is that they are available in so many different languages, as are the countless sentences that follow. They are accessible to so many different cultures and nationalities. Now, for the very first time, Professor Tolkien’s brilliant classic “The Hobbit” is available in the official Yiddish translation, approved by the Tolkien Estate – through Harvard Book Store. Continue reading “Journey There and Back Again with the Official Yiddish Translation of ‘The Hobbit’”

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”