School website article has now been suitably amended.

That's great news - well done!

- wellinghall

This is the cover of the new illustrated Hobbit with illustrations by Jemima Catlin, which I believe is scheduled to come out in September.

Trotter wrote:
This is the cover of the new illustrated Hobbit with illustrations by Jemima Catlin, which I believe is scheduled to come out in September.

Doesn't appeal at all, to be honest. Be interesting to see if the interior illustrations are more engaging.

I've got to agree with Stu on this. Personally, I don't find it appealing. However, this design really looks like a conscious push by the publishers to draw young children to the book on the store shelves. It reminds me of many of the other modern children's covers out there. The classic Tolkien drawn Hobbit cover might not be "keeping up with the times" in the children's section at Barnes and Noble anymore. My kids are only 3 (obviously not the target audience), but I guarantee they would grab this one off the shelf before the classic cover.

Looks like a touch of Pauline Baynes influence too, now that I think of it. - Just a touch.

I don't personally like the cover either & agree with Elwë in his assessment of its modern design, and perceived appeal. I've always thought it perilous to depict some of the characters in any great detail, particularly facially. Never liked illustrations depicting Hobbits.

That said, if you look at some of her other work (I don't think the calendar cover, for example, looks that appealing; but the black & white stuff she does are of a style I quite like [--see below]) you can see why they might have picked her to illustrate: nothing like Lee or Howe or Nasmith; female; British; etc. I like her depiction/focus on animals; so very apt for The Hobbit. I know not everyone is going to agree with this (& there are probably reasons why this hasn't happened), but I think a H illustrated by Ruth Lacon would have been good; her best work (in the bestiary style) is very, very good. I think it would have suited Tolkien's text well.

BH

Khamûl wrote:
I don't personally like the cover either & agree with Elwë in his assessment of its modern design, and perceived appeal. I've always thought it perilous to depict some of the characters in any great detail, particularly facially. Never liked illustrations depicting Hobbits.

That said, if you look at some of her other work (I don't think the calendar cover, for example, looks that appealing; but the black & white stuff she does are of a style I quite like [--see below]) you can see why they might have picked her to illustrate: nothing like Lee or Howe or Nasmith; female; British; etc. I like her depiction/focus on animals; so very apt for The Hobbit. I know not everyone is going to agree with this (& there are probably reasons why this hasn't happened), but I think a H illustrated by Ruth Lacon would have been good; her best work (in the bestiary style) is very, very good. I think it would have suited Tolkien's text well.

BH

I suspect that some of the reason for the new illustrations is to reinforce that the Hobbit is still a children's book, after PJs absolutely horrendous movies that don't appear to be aimed at any specific type of audience. It's a bit like having your cake and eating it, mind. Make the money off the movie tie-ins and then probably try and distance from the movies for another prospective audience.

My problem with any of the illustrated editions that we have seen is really that the original Tolkien illustrations (black and white, colour and retrospectively coloured) are just so "right" for the work. Maybe it is because they were the ones I saw as a child, but I think it is more than that.

Now what I would love to see is an illustrated LoTR done in the style of the colour and B/W illustrations of the Hobbit. That would be worth my money!

If we saw any mainstream Tolkien book illustrated by Ruth Lacon, I would have to take Christopher Tolkien's stance (on the movies) and look away in despair...

Abrupt change of topic:

The Early English Text Society will reissue The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle (i.e., Ancrene Wisse) in paperback on 20 June 2013:

http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14248

(I just bought a nice copy of the 1962 original edition, for 20 GBP! )

Tolkien.co.uk now seems to be listing a new three volume hardback collector's edition of LOTR, due out in October. It appears to match the recent Hobbit collector's edition, and is similarly described as a 'film tie-in', although I struggle to see why.


http://www.tolkien.co.uk/titles/83582 ... r-r-tolkien-9780007522903




http://www.tolkien.co.uk/titles/83583 ... r-r-tolkien-9780007522910



http://www.tolkien.co.uk/titles/83584 ... r-r-tolkien-9780007522927



http://www.tolkien.co.uk/titles/79488 ... r-r-tolkien-9780007487301



EDIT: Added pictures and link to the location on tolkien.co.uk Trotter

Turambar wrote:
Tolkien.co.uk now seems to be listing a new three volume hardback collector's edition of LOTR, due out in October. It appears to match the recent Hobbit collector's edition, and is similarly described as a 'film tie-in', although I struggle to see why.

Yes, I saw those the other day and thought the same thing about the "tie-in" not seeming to make much sense as there is no movie branding. I also thought "I wonder if the Book People will have a version with a Dust Jacket?"...