Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

== Artwork ==

{{Main|Tolkien's artwork}}

Tolkien learnt to paint and draw as a child and continued to do so all his adult life. From early in his writing career, the development of his stories was accompanied by drawings and paintings, especially of landscapes, and by maps of the lands in which the tales were set. He produced pictures to accompany the stories told to his own children, including those later published in ''Mr Bliss'' and ''Roverandom'', and sent them elaborately illustrated letters purporting to come from Father Christmas. Although he regarded himself as an amateur, the publisher used the author's own cover art, [[Tolkien's maps|his maps]], and full-page illustrations for the early editions of ''The Hobbit''. He prepared maps and illustrations for ''The Lord of the Rings'', but the first edition contained only the maps, his [[calligraphy]] for the inscription on the One Ring, and his ink drawing of the [[Doors of Durin]]. Much of [[Tolkien's artwork|his artwork]] was collected and published in 1995 as a book: ''[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator]]''. The book discusses Tolkien's paintings, drawings, and sketches, and reproduces approximately 200 examples of his work.<ref name="Hammond Scull 1995">{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |title-link=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |date=1995 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-395-74816-9 |location=Boston |pages=7, 9, and whole book |oclc=33450124 |author-link=Wayne G. Hammond |author-link2=Christina Scull}}</ref> [[Catherine McIlwaine]] curated a major exhibition of Tolkien's artwork at the [[Bodleian Library]], ''[[Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth]]'', accompanied by a book of the same name that analyses Tolkien's achievement and illustrates the full range of the types of artwork that he created.<ref>{{cite book |last=McIlwaine |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine McIlwaine |title=[[Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth]] |publisher=[[Bodleian Library]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-85124-485-0 |location=Oxford}}</ref>