The Art of M. W. Kaluta

In 1994 M. W. Kaluta created artworks for the Tolkien stories of the Lord of the Rings. Published by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd the illustrations cover famous as well as quiet bits of the story. For example we have Merry and Pippen at the Entmoot and Éowyn and the Witch-King of Angmar. Then there are the quiet moments that normally are not covered in Tolkien inspired art like Legolas drawing his gifted bow from Galadrial or one of my personal favorites Meriadoc the Magnificent and the Children of Samwise Hamfast. I really enjoy his artwork and especially this calendar. To see the calendar images in their entirety visit his website at...

The Art of M.W. Kaluta

The Barrows-Down

The Barrow-Down was born in 1998 before the craze of New Line Cinema's Lord of the Rings movies. It has since grown into a huge site with many pages. There are many games, references and wonderful article links, as well as an active message forum too. So take some time and browse through their vast site of knowledge.

The Barrow-Downs

Middle-earth Enterprises

Middle-earth Enterprises (formerly Tolkien Enterprises) is a licensing company who holds the rights to many of Tolkien's work including The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit. This is the place to get permission to use the names of these works and their site clearly defines the procedures and contacts to getting the job done. You can also see who holds rights to the uses they provide from Warner Bros.  to EA.

Middle-earth Enterprises

Marquette University

Located in the Raynor Memorial Library at Marquette University is the amazing J.R.R. Tolkien Collection . Within the library you'll find three manuscripts and working drafts of The Hobbit, Farmer Giles of Ham and the Lord of the Rings to name of the few gems kept there.

Are you sitting down?

"The original manuscripts represent the heart of the collection. They include holograph renderings (manuscripts in the hand of the author), various sets of typescripts with corrections by Tolkien, and page proofs or galley sheets, also with corrections in the hand of the author. The manuscripts for The Lord of the Rings, 1938-1955, consist of 7,125 leaves (9,250 pages). Included are an advance proof copy of The Return of the King, printed maps of Middle-earth, dust jackets from the original Houghton Mifflin edition, several drafts of a rejected " Epilogue," and manuscript fragments from The Silmarillion (1977). Drawings and sketches, often in preliminary form in the margin of the text, can be found throughout the handwritten manuscripts. Linguistic and philological notes relating to Tolkien's invented languages also appear in the manuscripts, often on the verso of the main text. The documents reflect an extraordinary creative process; as many as 18 drafts exist for a single chapter. Christopher Tolkien, the author's son and literary heir, has presented the history of the composition of The Lord of the Rings in The History of Middle-earth series (Volumes VI, VII, VIII, and IX, 1988-1992).

The Hobbit manuscripts, 1930-1937, which consist of 1,048 leaves (1,586 pages), include a holograph version, corrected typescripts, three sets of page proofs with the author's corrections, a water-color rendering by Tolkien of the dust jacket used by Allen and Unwin, printed maps with corrections, a watercolor of trolls and Gollum by German artist Horus Engels, and the original copy of " Thror's Map." Most of the early holograph is a continuous text with no chapter divisions. The manuscripts for Farmer Giles of Ham, ca. 1930-1938, 1948-1949, comprising 173 leaves (201 pages), include a holograph, typescripts with corrections, and galley sheets with corrections. Mr. Bliss, ca. 1928-1932, includes 39 leaves (61 pages). In addition to the finished booklet which is 50 pages in length, separate " preliminary" drawings and jottings exist. The manuscript is in Tolkien's calligraphic hand, illustrated throughout with ink and colored pencil drawings. Galley sheets and an advance proof copy of the 1982 facsimile edition complete the primary holdings."

And there's more...

"The collection includes books by and about Tolkien, periodicals produced by Tolkien enthusiasts, audio and video recordings, and a host of published and unpublished materials relating to Tolkien's life and fantasy writings."

I was so speechless I had to use quotes directly from Marquette's webpage. It's unbelievable isn't it?

The J.R.R. Tolkien Collection at Marquette University.

Elven Minstrel.com

Elven Minstrel.com is the brainchild of David J Finnamore. His pages includes an exploration of theology, music and cosmology. There is an interesting page entitled Christian Truth and Middle-earth Myth as well as another for the development of music of Middle-earth. Other pages includes quotes from the Lord of the Rings series and a fan fiction piece entitled The Elven Bard. The website is a nice journey into some interesting ideas fostered by Tolkien's work.

The Elven Minstrel.com

Beyond Bree

Beyond Bree is a Tolkien special interest group of American Mensa. This online site is the leaping off site for their monthly newsletter for Mensan members as well as non-members. Most all links to Beyond Bree's flyer, author guidelines and more information is available to download as attachments. I've not seen the newsletter so really don't have an opinion of it. But curious folk can download all the information and decide for themselves.

Beyond Bree

Tolkien Language List - TolkLang

The Tolkien Language List or otherwise known as TolkLang is a searchable database / mailing list for those who wish to discuss all aspects of Tolkien's linguistics from LoTR. It appears all languages of Arda are included as well as the finer aspects such as grammar to his uses of the Old English too. There are also links to searchable data as well as other places online for discussion of the topics of language. It's not pretty but for those who are interested in linguistics of Arda probably worth a look.

Tolkien Language List

Hobbit In 5

Hobbit In 5 is the dream child of ToRn. If you wish to keep up with the news flowing from New Zealand for the up and coming The Hobbit movie this may be your only place to stop. The segments of video tape only reports the cream of the crop news every Friday. If you're a fan but don't have the time to run around the net looking for the latest from the Jackson Camp or visit ToR.n regularly this may be your life line to Middle-earth and Thorin and company. No doubt after the films are made these will remain and become a walk down memory lane for the Tolkien fan.

Hobbit In 5

Planet Tolkien

Planet Tolkien has been around for ages and has a wealth of information including a chronology of Tolkien's life, live chat room for registered members, slide show movie gallery, fan fiction area for members, message forums and personal journals for members. There's more of course but you'll have to go searching the site to find all the little nuggets they hide there. It's a family friendly site so you kids could also hang out on Planet Tolkien.

The Tolkien Music List

The Tolkien Music List is quite an amazing collection of music inspired by Tolkien's literature. Not only do you find up to date additions of song with artists names you'll also find a wonderful links list of sources and on-line stores too. It's all alphabetical and easy to use. I can't say enough good stuff about this site. You should check it out. The Tolkien Music List.

Happy New Year

I want to wish you all a happy new year and to fill you in on plans with this blog. I've added a search option to the right so that you can search by website name. I've compiled more sites to add to this web guide and will start doing so tomorrow. In the meantime enjoy the weekend and thanks for checking in.