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.'"

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The Madcap Affair of the Purple Emu

[TheRealHocusLocus]

J.R.R. Tolkien's Rings trilogy was originally published in 1954-55, relatively obscure until an American pulp publisher 'Ace' just went to press without even asking, never mind the money. Tolkien battled them for rights and royalties, and things dragged along slowly until a cadre of deep fan American readers took on the cause with verve that Ace could scarcely have imagined, and sent them reeling. Ace eventually offered an arrangement that was accepted by the Author and formal truce was declared.

Meanwhile (1960s) popularity of the books had taken off considerably in the United States and Britain. So with new interest Ballentine Books approached the author with intent to produce an 'authorised' paperback edition -- with some revision -- and they would do the cover. From Humphrey Carpenter's J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography,

[After some delay] they decided that they could not wait any longer. In order to get at least one Tolkien book into the shops they published The Hobbit in the original text without waiting for Tolkien's revisions, which they planned to include in a later edition. They sent him a copy, and he was astonished by the picture on the cover. Ace Books for all their moral 'piracy' had employed a cover artist who knew something about the story, but Ballantine's cover picture seemed to have no relevance whatever to The Hobbit, for it showed a hill, two emus, and a curious tree bearing bulbous fruit. Tolkien exploded: 'What has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs?' When the reply came that the artist hadn't time to read the book, and that the object with pink bulbs was 'meant to suggest a Christmas tree', Tolkien could only answer: 'I begin to feel that I am shut up in a madhouse.'

Late in 1965 the `authorised' paperback of The Lord of the Rings was published in America in three volumes, with Tolkien's revisions incorporated, and with the emus and the Christmas tree on the cover of the first volume, though this picture was later removed and one of Tolkien's own drawings was substituted; two more of his pictures were used for the second and third volumes. Each copy carried a message from Tolkien: 'This paperback edition and no other has been published with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it and no other.'

Purple Emu Fellowships are now rare. I used to have one.