In 1998 a sumptuous edition of The Silmarillion was published, with twenty color illustrations by the Canadian artist Ted Nasmith. Eighteen of the illustrations appear as full page plates, with the remaining ones on the front and back of the dust-cover. This illustrated book is still available, as a $35.00 hardcover (Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-93946-1). But here I want to call attention to an offshoot of the book, and that is the Tolkien Calendar 2000 ($14.99, published by HarperEntertainment, a division of HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-107579-5).

The exciting news is that of the thirteen illustrations in the calendar (one is a center-spread) seven of the illustrations are new, with the remaining six from the illustrated edition of The Silmarillion. Also, for each of the twelve months, a small, early sketch is included which helps one see how the artist has captured his vision from a preliminary form to a completed work of art. The artist (like Tolkien himself) is at his best with landscapes, and with wide panoramic views. Occasionally his figures are somewhat static or overly posed. But his imagination, and his ability to capture his vision, never really falters. Nasmith’s illustrated Silmarillion, together with his Tolkien Calendar 2000, present a marvelous new visual dimension to Tolkien’s mythic story of the First Age of Middle-earth.

front

back

The illustration on the front cover of the calendar (also used for December) is "The Slaying of Glaurung." On the back of the calendar there are small reproductions of the thirteen main illustrations. I’ve scanned in a large section of the front cover (all that would fit on the bed of my scanner), and the portion of the back cover which reproduces all of the miniaturized illustrations. Still I must say that these scans don’t really do justice to the illustrations. Check out the calendar and the book for yourself.