I agree that the black and white illustrations were probably done to pad out the book. Since I like his work though, for me they were nice additions. You are right, though, that art, being subjective, tends to be polarising too.

Some of Alan Lee’s work seems derivative of his own past work. But there are gems to be found. I think my favourite, and most unexpected, illustration in B&L was the “Silmaril shining in the West”. That image, for me, really captures the wonder that Maedhros and Maglor must’ve felt seeing a new star rising in the heavens.

The story of Gondolin is my absolute favourite among all of Tolkien’s works. I am hoping there’ll be some great new illustrations that capture similar “unexpected” moments from the story.

Amazon has the new artwork for the cover now:

And... I am really hoping this deluxe edition is just a placeholder.

The deluxe edition picture just looks like a photo-shopped copy of the deluxe Silmarillion to me, I'm sure it's just temporary.

My thought too...

{{{HUGGGGGGG}}}

That image literally took my breath away! I think Christopher Tolkien deserves a virtual hug from me too, and my eternal thanks. I want this as a poster; it’s so awesome.

The embargo seems to be breaking down... first "official" leaks making it to press.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tol ... falls-place-harper-764641

HarperCollins has announced J R R Tolkien’s The Fall of Gondolin will be published in the UK in August 2018.

The title, edited by the author’s son Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee, completes the trilogy of connected Middle-earth stories, following The Children of Húrin (2007) and Beren and Lúthien (2017).

The novel will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US, with a number of translations signed too.

Cover art is nice.

I don't think that deluxe is a photoshopped Sil, though -- has the wrong cutouts in the sides for that (is more like Kullervo). Presumably they haven't decided on what motif to use as yet (and the horizontal line probably won't be there. IIRC they showed that on the S&G deluxe render as well). Either way, hopefully is LEGO, rather than RR Donnelly that prints it. And I really, really, really hope this is the last one. As much as we all want more Tolkien, books like this just aren't it. They are pure consumerism.

The deluxe image does seem photoshopped... if you look at the cuts where the curves (or Kullervo’s infamous cuts) are supposed to be, you can see the typical signs of photoshopping. Also the background of the title on the spine looks very photoshopped.

But like you, I seriously hope the printing and binding will be good. Kullervo remains a disaster; along with the latest HoME deluxe set.

Oh, it is certainly a render - I just don't think it is a photoshop of an existing Silmarillion (rendered or real). I imagine they can pump out renders of these in half an hour. Simple 3D model, add text and texture, job done. That said, there is a whole bunch of blurring where something has clearly been removed. Could have been a Kullervo render quickly re-purposed. That would probably take less than 10 minutes!