Tolkien, J.R.R. (author); Tolkien, Christopher (editor) and Lee, Alan (illustrator) (2018) ‘The Fall of Gondolin’, UK deluxe first edition, signed and sketched by Alan Lee

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (author); Christopher Tolkien (editor) and Alan Lee (illustrator) (2018) ‘The Fall of Gondolin‘, UK first deluxe edition, first printing, published by Harper Collins. Signed by illustrator Alan Lee and sketched by him on the half-title page showing Legolas. Signed once more on the title page. Beautiful production with colour illustrations and drawings throughout.

Condition: an unread and fine copy as shown.

J.R.R. Tolkien needs no introduction. The father of modern fantasy – with works like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – is as popular as ever. His son Christopher has done an excellent job in editing his father’s unpublished work. After years of talks Alan Lee finally convinced Christoper Tolkien to illustrate ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Tolkien’s best known and greatest fantasy novel of all time (the illustrated LOTR was published in 1991). Christoper was so impressed of Alan’s visual interpretations that ‘The Hobbit’ was illustrated by Alan in 1997 as well. They both collaborated on Tolkien’s posthumous books, Christopher editing Tolkien’s unfinished tales, whilst Alan working on the illustrations (‘Children of Hurin’ (2007), ‘Beren and Luthien’ (2017), ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ (2018)). Alan’s work caught the eye of film director Peter Jackson, and Alan was invited together with John Howe to come to New Zealand and help with the conceptual art of the films. The result was an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Art Direction for Alan and his team in 2004.