"The Lord of the Rings" illustrated by the author for the first time in Germany | Culture and Lifestyle in Germany and Europe

Large illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien was published in the very first edition of the novel “The Lord of the Rings” – it was a map of the fantastic Middle-earth, the scene in the fictional universe of the cult literary masterpiece. The new publication of the trilogy, which was prepared by the German publishing house Klett-Cotta, for the first time includes several dozen illustrations by the author.

The 30 drawings, maps and sketches taken for the book were created by Tolkien during his work on the fantasy saga. “Tolkien himself was rather restrained when it came to his illustrations. For the first edition of The Lord of the Rings, he limited himself to one map. notes the publishing house Klett-Cotta from Stuttgart.

Elven runes, maps and landscapes

The two-kilogram one-volume hardcover and linen cover with elven runes is printed in two colors, red and black. The book is illustrated with colored pencil sketches, landscapes in color, schematic sketches with small print, and meticulously rendered pictures of gloomy and magnificent forests by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in three parts won several Oscars

Pages from the Book of Mazarbul mentioned in “The Lord of the Rings” (a Time.news of an unsuccessful expedition led by the dwarf Balin to the kingdom of Moriah. – Ed.), reproduced in full color in the form of a folding panel, illustrate, in particular, the chapter “The Hazad-dum Bridge” from the second book of the epic saga. The new Stuttgart edition also includes two fold-out detailed maps of Middle-earth, modified from the writer’s drafts by his son Christopher Tolkien.

A fantastic epic about events in the fictional universe of Middle-earth, inhabited by hobbits, orcs, elves, gnomes, good and evil magicians, somehow involved in the struggle for the magical Ring of Omnipotence, was first published in 1954. Since then, the book has been translated into about 40 languages, reprinted many times and sold around the world with a total circulation of at least 150 million copies.

One of the most famous and popular fantasy novels, The Lord of the Rings has had a huge impact on world culture. The film adaptation of the epic in three parts, directed by Peter Jackson, and awarded several Oscars, was also a great success.

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The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Bestselling creator and Hollywood conqueror
The works of the British writer, poet, philologist and linguist John Ronald Ruel Tolkien are among the most popular in the history of literature. Moreover, the bestsellers immediately became both the books of this author and the films based on them.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Blows of fate
In this photo, John Tolkien (right) is captured as an eleven month old baby. The photo was taken in the Republic of South Africa, where he was born. His younger brother was born there. After the death of his father, the mother and her sons returned to their homeland – to England. Eight years later, when John was only 12 years old, she died too. The orphaned children were taken under his care by a priest who was friends with their parents.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Fairyland Prototype
Tolkien grew up in one of the suburbs of Birmingham. The idyllic nature that surrounded him in childhood and adolescence subsequently inspired him to create “Fairy Tales of the Magic Land”. He studied well at school, and most of all he was carried away by foreign languages, poetry, literature. In Birmingham, he also met his future wife, Edith. They got married in March 1916.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
The creator of artificial languages
Upon entering Oxford University, Tolkien became even more interested in languages and Old English literature. By that time, he was already fluent in Latin and Greek. In addition to these languages, he studied Gothic, Welsh, Finnish. Tolkien’s interest in linguistics and linguistics was so high that while studying at Oxford, he even took up the creation of artificial languages.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Overwhelmed with hatred of war
Shortly after his marriage, in July 1916, John Tolkien was drafted into the army and fought on the fronts of the First World War. He survived the bloody battle on the Somme, where two of his friends were killed. Tolkien later fell ill with typhus and was admitted to the infirmary. Shocked by the horrors he experienced, he hated wars and began writing in a hospital bed.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
First novel published
After the war, Tolkien began teaching at the University of Leeds, then received the position of professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature at Oxford. At the same time, he continued to write. In 1937 his fantastic novel “The Hobbit, or There and Back” was published, which immediately won a resounding success. After that, Tolkien took up work on another work, which became one of the most popular books of the 20th century.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
“Lord of the Rings”
It took Tolkien about 15 years to create one of the most famous works of the fantasy genre – the epic novel “The Lord of the Rings”, the fairy-tale world of which is inhabited by hobbits, gnomes, elves, trolls, goblins, and other fantastic creatures. This book made it to the list of the best-selling in the world. The three films based on it have collected 17 Oscars and billions of dollars at the worldwide box office.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
The last creation
In the last years of his life, Tolkien worked on The Silmarillion, a collection of myths and legends from Middle-earth. But due to the death of the writer, the novel remained unfinished. The work on it was completed by Tolkien’s son, Christopher, thanks to whom this book was also published.

The father of the fantasy genre John Ronald Ruel Tolkien
Beren and Luthien
John Tolkien passed away in 1973, two years after the death of his wife Edith. The couple are buried in the same grave in a cemetery in Oxford. The names are inscribed on the tombstone – Beren and Lúthien. That was the name of the couple in love – the characters of the work “The Silmarillion”. As John Tolkien himself admitted, he was inspired to create these characters by his love for his wife Edith.
Author: Natalia Koroleva, Felix Schlagwein