Tolkien, J.R.R. (1991) ‘The Lord of the Rings’, UK illustrated edition, association copy signed by the major film cast and production team with original drawing by Alan Lee

J.R.R. Tolkien (1991) ‘The Lord of the Rings‘, UK illustrated edition, published by HarperCollins. Signed and inscribed twenty-nine times by the major cast and production team of the seminal Peter Jackson film trilogy (2001 – 03). Alan Lee (conceptual design) also added an original drawing of Gandalf. The book is illustrated throughout by Alan Lee. Housed in a brown full leather solander case.

Provenance: This is Bernard Hill’s copy who played King Théoden, King of Rohan. He collected the signatures during filming and gifted the book to his daughter Jay as a memento. His inscription on the second front free endpaper reads: “The Lord of the Rings | New Zealand 1999/2000 | To Jay With Love from Dad xxx”

A wonderful testament to the filming of one of the most iconic and best book adaptations of all time. Altogether the book has been signed and warmly inscribed twenty-nine times by the major film cast and production team including (in brackets their respective film role):

1) John Rhys-Davies (Gimli); 2) Sean Bean [inscribed twice] (Bormomir); 3) Miranda Otto (Éowyn); 4) Ian McKellen (Gandalf); 5) Christopher Lee (Saruman); 6) Andy Serkis (Gollum); 7) Dominic Monaghan (Meriadoc); 8) Sean Astin (Samwise); 9) Bruce Hopkins (Gamling); 10) Orlando Bloom (Legolas); 11) Liv Tyler (Arwen); 12) John Leigh (Háma); 13) Elijah Wood (Frodo); 14) Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn); 15) Cate Blanchett (Galadriel); 16) Billy Boyd (Peregrin “Pippin” Took; also music); 17) Philippa Boyens (screenwriter); 18) Alan Lee (conceptual design); 19) Bernard Hill (Théoden); 20) Fran Walsh (producer); 21) Peter Jackson (director and producer); 22) Barrie M. Osbourne (producer); 23) David Wenham (Faramir); 24) Hugo Weaving (Elrond); 25) Ian Holm (Bilbo); 26) Karl Urban (Éomer); 27) John Noble (Denethor) [plus one more member we are are not able to identify].

The warm inscriptions reveal that Hill was quite liked at the set, e.g.: “Your father is an incredible burden to us all, but he is doing some fine work along the way” (Vigo Mortensen); or: “Your old man is one cool dude, so I take the liberty of assuming you are one cool dude also. His Royal sidekick Gamling” (Bruce Hopkins); and “We had such fun working with your Dad, thank you for allowing him to come to NZ! (He’s not a bad sort once you get past the toilet humour)” Fran Walsh. Bernard Hill (1944-2024) had an incredible career as a film, TV and theatre actor. He will be mostly remembered for hils role of Théoden in LOTR, and as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic (1997).

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) has been widely considered the best fantasy book of all time and achieved widespread recognition by the mid 1970s at the latest. For decades the source material had been deemed unfilmable, until Peter Jackson took on the project and decided to stay faithful to the book without too many artistic liberties. The film adaptation was tremendously successful winning 17 Academy Awards out of 30 nominations and grossing USD three billion at the box office. The film trilogy therefore helped Tolkien become the global phenomenon he is today.