{"id":30848,"date":"2020-03-13T23:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T23:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mathewingram.blog\/?p=30848"},"modified":"2020-03-13T23:39:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T23:39:00","slug":"why-the-covers-of-the-original-lord-of-the-rings-books-looked-so-odd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2020\/03\/13\/why-the-covers-of-the-original-lord-of-the-rings-books-looked-so-odd\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the covers of the original Lord of the Rings books looked so odd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"622\" width=\"525\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flashbak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Remington1-1200x1422.jpg?resize=525%2C622&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-424293\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;ve ever seen the original paperback versions of JRR Tolkien&#8217;s Lord of the Rings trilogy, or the prequel The Hobbit, you might have wondered why the cover illustrations looked so odd. There&#8217;s a simple reason: The artist who did them never actually read any of the books, but went on brief descriptions of them. &#8220;I tried to get a copy through my friends,&#8221; she said <a href=\"http:\/\/briansibleysblog.blogspot.com\/2017\/04\/hobbits-and-lions-and-emus-oh-my.html\">in an interview later<\/a>. &#8220;I tried finding people that had read them, but the books were not readily available in the states, so I had sketchy information at best.&#8221; Needless to say, the illustrations puzzled Tolkien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI must ask about the vignette,\u201d Tolkien wrote his publisher, \u201cwhat has it got to do with the story? Where is this place? Why a lion and emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs? I do not understand how anybody who had read the tale (I hope you are one) could think such a picture would please the author.\u201d The image was supposed to depict Hobbiton, a landscape very much inspired by the tranquil English countryside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/flashbak.com\/the-bizarre-book-covers-for-the-first-u-s-paperback-editions-of-j-r-r-tolkiens-books-made-by-an-artist-who-had-never-read-them-424290\/\">The Bizarre Book Covers for the First U.S. Paperback Editions of J.R.R. Tolkien&#8217;s Books, Made By an Artist Who Had Never Read Them &#8211; Flashbak<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"syndication-links\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve ever seen the original paperback versions of JRR Tolkien&#8217;s Lord of the Rings trilogy, or the prequel The Hobbit, you might have wondered why the cover illustrations looked so odd. There&#8217;s a simple reason: The artist who did them never actually read any of the books, but went on brief descriptions of them. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2020\/03\/13\/why-the-covers-of-the-original-lord-of-the-rings-books-looked-so-odd\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why the covers of the original Lord of the Rings books looked so odd&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":false,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}