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The Film Book of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings
First Ballantine Books Edition, November 1978. This book contains over 130 illustrations of original film art from the Fantasy Films presentation of The Lord of the Rings part one.
76 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 1978
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About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
800 books78.2k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 28, 2012
3 1/2 stars, probably. It definitely helps to be familiar with LOTR before reading this book. It was a bit abrupt at times and I'm not sure how clear things would be to someone who hadn't read LOTR. I was very impressed by how close it followed the "real" LOTR book, or perhaps how close the film followed the book since this is based on the animated movie. Parts of it were nearly direct quotes of Tolkien which definitely helped it to have a very genuine Tolkien feel.
A final bit of warning - do not expect a resolved ending! The book stops nearly at the end of Two Towers, as does the movie, I believe.
A final bit of warning - do not expect a resolved ending! The book stops nearly at the end of Two Towers, as does the movie, I believe.
July 15, 2018
This is a companion book to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". It covers the first two books of the trilogy. This book consists of a brief synopsis of the story plus over 100 illustrations taken directly from the film. While the artwork in the book was okay, it didn't capture the dynamism of the film. The text was also poorly edited with several misspellings. Overall an interesting work, but I am glad it was loaned to me, I wouldn't have spent money on it despite being the huge fan of LOTR that I am.
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August 1, 2024for some reason the comments here are for a completely unrelated lord of the rings book. it is a catholic devotional book about the new testament, i like it a lot.
August 29, 2024
Very cool find in a small-town New Brunswick book store! Honestly a super solid condensation/adaptation of the first couple of books. Now I might check out the film!
February 11, 2016
It's a re-hash of the animated film. It's a nice piece to have but thing exciting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews