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  * Scholarship
      + Tom Shippey, 'J.R.R. Tolkien and Philology'
      + Tom Shippey, 'Translations and scholarly editions of medieval
        texts
      + Thomas Honegger, 'The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's
        Son'
      + Tom Shippey, 'The Monsters and the Critics and other essays'
      + 'Beowulf: a translation and commentary together with Sellic
        Spell'
      + J.R.R. Tolkien, 'Thoughts on Translation (Beowulf)'
      + Leo Carruthers, 'Understanding Beowulf'
      + Verlyn Flieger, 'On Fairy Stories'
      + Arden Smith, 'Writing Systems'
      + Carl Hostetter, 'Tolkien's Invented Languages'
      + Links to medieval texts
  * Letters
      + Stanley Unwin, 16 Dec 1937
      + Michael Tolkien, 6-8 Mar 1941
      + Christopher Tolkien, 30 Apr 1944
      + Christopher Tolkien, 30 Jan 1945
      + Milton Waldman, publisher, 1951
      + W.H. Auden, 7 Jun 1955
      + Rhona Beare, Oct 1958
      + Eileen Elgar, September 1963
      + Priscilla Tolkien, 26 Nov 1963
      + Christopher Bretherton, 16 July 1964
      + Michael Tolkien, 1967-1968
      + Carole Batten-Phelps, 1971
      + Christopher Tolkien, 11 July 1972
  * Life
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Painting

Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure
and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration
from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The
Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing
or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined
scene more clearly.

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'The Misty Mountains'

ILLUSTRATION

For Tolkien writing, drawing, painting, creating maps and inventing
languages and scripts were all part of a cohesive creative process.
His artwork might illustrate a written passage or it might precede
the written description. It might be inspired by the text or become
the inspiration for it.

Explore

  * The Hobbit
  * The Lord of the Rings
  * The Silmarillion
  * For Children
  * Real life
  * Imagination

[604cropped]

Working map of Middle-earth for The Lord of the Rings

MAPS

'I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit', Tolkien
explained to a reader of The Lord of the Rings. In fact he made over
thirty maps as he wrote the story. Some were meticulously plotted on
graph paper in advance but others were sketched out as he was
writing, in order to clarify the scene in his mind.

Explore

  * Maps

[calligraphy-cropped]

'Aldarion' written in Elvish characters and decorated scrolls

CALLIGRAPHY

Tolkien's interest in languages and alphabets extended also to
calligraphy. He experimented with different styles of handwriting and
used them as integral elements in his literary work to denote
different cultures and even individual characters.

Explore

  * Calligraphy

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