The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook will be released in a sumptuous large-format trade paperback (09.03.08 by Pieter Collier) - Comments

A sumptuous large-format trade paperback containing sketches and paintings, by Alan Lee, from the Lord of the Rings, together with brand new and previously unseen material from the books and the Peter Jackson movie adaption, will be published by Harper Collins Publishers in September 2008.

The Lord of The Rings is now the undisputed Book of the Century and Harper Collins tells now that it has sold over 150 million copies world-wide.

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a lavishly illustrated and fascinating overview of the project of illustrating the Lord of The Rings – sure to be of interest to the 100,000 people in the UK alone who bought Alan Lee’s illustrated edition. The "Lord of the Rings" Sketchbook hardback edition, published in 2005, was a major best seller for over two years in a row and the new paperback will be very succesful for sure!

Alan Lee worked as Conceptual Artist on the multi-billion dollar film trilogy from New Line Cinema, acclaimed as the movie event of the decade. Alan Lee will probably also be asked to be working on the new The Hobbit movies and his art will there fore be seen for many years to come!

The paperback will feature and exclusive 600-word foreword by Sir Ian McKellen and will be the ideal gift for any Lord of The Rings fan, especially those interested in art or book illustration.

It seems that 2008 is once again the year of Alan Lee! All 2008 Tolkien related paperbacks feature his work. This month we saw the publication of a paperback edition of The Children of Húrin, and paperbacks of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, designed to perfectly complement the new paperback edition of The Children of Húrin. All edition feature cover art and illustrations by Alan Lee. It is the very first time any of these books have been released in a  standard paperback size (they are b-format).

The first ever fully illustrated paperback of the critically acclaimed and beloved children’s classic The Hobbit, featuring 26 colour paintings and over 30 pencil drawings by Alan Lee, winner of the Kate Greenaway medal for illustration, and creator of the fabulously successful Centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings.

This paperback contains all the stunning paintings by Alan Lee, depicting key scenes from this all-time classic (scenes such as Gollum and Bilbo, The Wargs, Smaug the Dragon and The Battle of the Five Armies), and this beautiful volume also includes a wealth of integrated pencil drawings which demonstrate perfectly Alan's genius at work.

A similar hardback edition, with 22 illustrations, was published in 1997 (1).

The Lord of the Rings has been acknowledged as the best book of the 20th Century, with sales in excess of 100,000,000 worldwide.

This paperback edition contains the definitive, fully corrected version of the text and have an eyecatching cover by Alan Lee.

Part One of Tolkien’s great masterwork, The Fellowship of the Rings, contains 19 colour paintings by Alan Lee.

A similar cover and all 19 illustrations have been published in the hardback century anniversary edition in 1992 (2) and as a paperback edition in 1996 (3).
Except of a slight difference in the cover, I do not expect to find many differences. New in this edition will be the definitive version of the text.

The illustrated paperback of The Two Towers, part two of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, features 16 colour paintings by Alan Lee and a stunning cover by his hand.

A similar cover and all 16 illustrations have been published in the hardback century anniversary edition in 1992 (4) and as a paperback edition in 1996 (5).

Except of a slight difference in the cover, I do not expect to find many differences. New in this edition will be the definitive version of the text.

The cover of this book was used as inspirational source by Peter Jackson, who asked Alan Lee to draw the rest of the tower. The full result can be seen in the movies.

The illustrated paperback of The Return of the King, part three of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, features 15 colour paintings by Alan Lee and a stunning cover by his hand.

A similar cover and all 15 illustrations have been published in the hardback century anniversary edition in 1992 (6) and as a paperback edition in 1996 (7).

Except of a slight difference in the cover, I do not expect to find many differences. New in this edition will be the definitive version of the text.

Alan Lee's art was used to shape the Middle-earth as we see it in Peter Jackson's movie sadaption.

(1) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=24950
(2) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43340
(3) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43520
(4) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43350
(5) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43530
(6) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43360
(7) Neil Holford, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/details.php?reference=43540

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