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I read this book in one day: it's so beautiful and engaging (incidentally completing one third of my Tolkien Reading Challenge!) that I barely put it down.

As well as the finished art we're all familiar with from The Hobbit, the book includes all of the existing drafts, paint sketches and preparatory drawings and lettering that J.R.R. Tolkien made for the project.

It's fascinating to see the development of such well-loved images, many of which I thought were just as good as the final versions. I particularly liked Tolkien's drafts for The Elvenking's Gate.

What was particularly striking is how much detail there is in the illustrations. Being printed at a slightly larger size than the usual book versions, on high quality paper and copied at high resolution from the original artwork (except for Mirkwood, the original of which Tolkien gave to a student - I immediately felt a pang of jealousy when I read that!), they really do shine out.

I saw so much more detail than I'd noticed before in the reproduction of The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water: The kitchen garden at the front of the mill; the hen-coop at the back, with bare earth amongst the grass where the chickens have been scratching; the foam on the water-wheel; the chestnut trees in blossom, which were later destroyed in the Scouring of the Shire; the haystacks behind the grange and the beautiful contrast between the pastel-blue sky and creamy clouds. I must have seen then before - I've been reading the book for forty years - but this felt like the first time I'd really seen them.

There's all sorts of interesting details in the text and the book itself is a beautiful artefact: hard-covered in Elvish grey with a white-inked image of The Elvenking's Gate, in a slipcase adorned with Tolkien's illustration for the original dust jacket, with the colour-scheme he'd intended if Allen & Unwin could have afforded to print it.

Definitely worth the £25 cover price.

I saw that in a bookshop today while I was buying a pocket sized edition of The Hobbit! I desperately wanted it, but it's $50 here. ;___;

I got it for Christmas, so it was a special purchase. Definitely worth starting a cent-bottle to save up your change towards buying it, though :-D

I can hear Sir Ian's Gandalf in my head: "Don't TEMPT me, Frodo!"

Maybe I'll get it for myself for my birthday.

Or I should have an income tax refund in a month or so ...

Uh oh.

It really is a precious book - gollum

Will I turn invisible reading it? Or just the contents of my wallet? :P

Ah, just the money, unfortunately. But then you do have the book as consolation.

I don't think I mentioned the multiple double-page fold-out sections - they're cool, too.

I can't wait. I mean, I have to wait, but I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on this!

I love the acompanying maps and illustations connected to Tolkien's work, including those done by Alan Lee. They are very beautiful and bring the entire creation to life.

Lucinda wrote: "I love the acompanying maps and illustations connected to Tolkien's work, including those done by Alan Lee. They are very beautiful and bring the entire creation to life."

I've just framed a copy of the Beleriand map from Alan Lee's Maps of Tolkien's Middle-earth - bought in the LoTR shop in Queenstown on South Island - and hung it up in my dining-room. I love all four maps and will rotate them from time to time. I wish there were a more detailed map of Numenor particularly - we know so little about that island. Oh well, maybe one day...