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See the Sketches J.R.R. Tolkien Used To Build Middle-Earth (wired.com)
Esther Schindler writes: In addition to writing the story of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew it. The maps and sketches he made while drafting it "informed his storytelling, allowing him to test narrative ideas and illustrate scenes he needed to capture in words," reports Ethan Gilsdorf at Wired. "For Tolkien, the art of writing and the art of drawing were inextricably intertwined."
It's all coming out in a new book, but here we get a sneak preview, along with several cool observations, such as: "If Tolkien's nerdy use of graph paper feels like a secret message to future Dungeons & Dragons players, then so does his 'Plan of Shelob's lair.' Tolkien's map of tunnels stocked with nasties—here, a spider named Shelob—would be right at home in any Dungeon Master's campaign notes. He even marks the place for a classic dungeon crawl feature: 'trap.'"
It's all coming out in a new book, but here we get a sneak preview, along with several cool observations, such as: "If Tolkien's nerdy use of graph paper feels like a secret message to future Dungeons & Dragons players, then so does his 'Plan of Shelob's lair.' Tolkien's map of tunnels stocked with nasties—here, a spider named Shelob—would be right at home in any Dungeon Master's campaign notes. He even marks the place for a classic dungeon crawl feature: 'trap.'"
TFS only has one image
It's one of these magic new interweb things. You click the arrows at the sides and different pictures appear, like in the Mirror of Galadriel.
I hit a blank advertising slide between 6 and 7. Also, if you feel the urge to avoid the java script, you can just look at the source - links to all images are there. The caption to the first image is "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor".
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
And here is a picture of that cover
That's not quite right.
Tolkien himself admitted--in Letters if not other commentary--that he was no artist
That was JRRT being self-deprecating and humble. Some of his art was actually quite good. It all came down to how much time he put into it - there's a big difference between his finished works and his crude sketches. I think what he means when he says "I'm no artist" is more along the lines of "I'm not on par with picasso" rather than "I can't draw". If you want to see some awesome art by JRRT, check out J.R.R Tolkiien: Artist And Illustrator, which has some awesome stuff. This new book seems to be focusing more on the rough sketches.
and that Chris did most of the artwork associated with the maps and early sketches that went with his work.
Chris only did the maps IIRC. The other illustrations tended to be JRRT. The original (intended, I don't think it was published in the end) cover of the hobbit was entirely JRRT's design.