Tolkien calendar 74

I could be mistaken but as far as I remember in Artist p. 193 a version of Eärendil’s Heraldic Device is reproduced and it is different from the one that is found in Pictures (The Picture one has more white dots while the one reproduced in Artist is characterized by some kind of white spikes inside the main girth) so maybe in the calendar we find the same variant that is present in Artist. Anyway I’ll leave the matter to more experienced people also because unfortunately I do not own the 1974 calendar. I’m interested so please post if you find something out.

P.S. I would be interested in seeing a photo of the Calendar's back if you don't mind, I did not succeed in finding one on the internet

Aren't these the two versions?

Here's the back of the 1974 calendar



Here's Pictures:



Here's Artist & Illustrator:



Christina and Wayne say this in A&I (italics my additions)

Eärendil's device, as drawn on the front of an envelope [190 pictured above] posted to Tolkien on 13 December 1960, seems to incorporate a Silmaril and blazes like the star Eärendil became. On the back of the envelope [not pictured in A&I] is a rough, apparently earlier design for Eärendil's device, containing a six-pointed star with two long points reaching to the top and bottom corners of the lozenge and four shorter points extending to the centres of the four sides.

The calendar back and Pictures image do appear to be the same to me, I think Christopher was referring to the device that appears in A&I.

Urulókë wrote:

The calendar back and Pictures image do appear to be the same to me, I think Christopher was referring to the device that appears in A&I.

Yes, the one in Artist must have been the one he was thinking of (though of course that was a long way from publication at the time he wrote this).

Thanks for the help, all!

Here's the full listing of images that appear in the 1974 Tolkien Calendar, should anyone want reference:

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_J.R.R._Tolkien_Calendar_1974_(UK)

TAI #35 MS. Tolkien Drawings 91, fol. 5r
1973 ’74 Calendar (Unwin)
1977 The Silmarillion
1978 ’79 Desk Calendar (Ball.)
1979 Pictures 1
1992 Life & Legend



TAI #117 MS. Tolkien Drawings 91, fol. 30
1978 ’79 Desk Calendar (Ball.)
1995 Art. & Ill.

Thanks, Ugo, this is helpful!

Ugo Truffelli wrote:

TAI #35 MS. Tolkien Drawings 91, fol. 5r

I discovered this old thread today, while doing some research of Eärendil's emblem.

Does someone know if the six-pointed star (why six?), the six white circles and the four white diamonds have a meaning?

The other design has the same star and diamonds, but no circles.

Huge thanks!

Ligandil wrote:

Ugo Truffelli wrote:

TAI #35 MS. Tolkien Drawings 91, fol. 5r

I discovered this old thread today, while doing some research of Eärendil's emblem.

Does someone know if the six-pointed star (why six?), the six white circles and the four white diamonds have a meaning?

The other design has the same star and diamonds, but no circles.

Huge thanks!

Here is what Hammond and Scull say about the 2nd device pictured here. Taken from Artist and Illustrator.

The focus in Earendil's device lies in the Silmaril of Earendil depicted in the centre, radiating six light beams towards the edges. In the dark corners the moon in its phases is shown. The presence of the moon might reflect Earendil's destiny to become a star, but it is also the only thing that prevents this device from being entirely symmetrical. This perhaps distinguishes him as being Half-elven. The six light rays are accompanied by six others, that seem to go in the opposite direction. Thus forming twelve "points", a clear relatedness with Idril's device is seen (Idril being Earendil's mother), which is reinforced by the shared blue background of the two devices.