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Thread: New Illustrated Version

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Elfstone
has made 1502 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (12:30am)
Elfstone is a Community Supporter!
Yesterday, as a late X-mas present to myself, I finally got the new illustrated hardcover version of The Silmarillion. I just wanted to leave this post as a huge recommendation for this new edition!

The book is absolutely beautiful, and it’s a true joy to have my favorite book of all time in a gorgeous hardcover! The incredible Ted Nasmith did the illustrations, and there are 45 total (including twenty brand new illustrations done specifically for this new edition, the other 25 are the same ones that were included with the first illustrated hardcover edition which was released in 1997). If you haven’t seen the illustrations that Ted Nasmith has done for this book, you are really missing out!

Also included with the book is a beautifully detailed full color pull out map of Beleriand! I purchased my copy at Borders for $35 (US dollars). This new edition is about twice as big as the first version that came out in 97, and is published by Houghton Mifflin (2004) if you’re looking for it in the store or online.

Anyone else here at PT have this version yet?
Elf Smilie
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Virumor
has made 3567 posts and is a Rohirrim from Edoras and is not online.
Posted Saturday 1st January 2005 (09:54pm)
I've seen most of Ted Nasmith's artwork and i like it, though some of it i find a bit too much "sword and sorcery", like the one of Fingolfin vs Morgoth. But the one he made of L’thien dancing in Neldoreth, is absolutely fabulous, of course.

Good to know that such a book exists, anyway maybe if i'll see it somewhere i'll pick it up. Let's just hope that Darrell Sweet will never do the illustrations.... ;-) Although Sweet would be perfect for illustrating the fairytales of the brothers Grimm.

I for one would like to see the Sil and LOTR being illustrated by Eissmann, my favourite Tolkien artist by far. Maybe in the future, who knows.
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Túrin Turambar
has made 617 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Saturday 1st January 2005 (10:06pm)
i never heard of it, but the way you describe it temps me to buy it.
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Grondmaster
has made 25465 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and has sailed into the West.
Posted Saturday 1st January 2005 (11:35pm)
Neither of my hard bound copies (1999 Easton Press leather bound and 1977 American first edition) has illustrations though both have large fold-out red and black on white maps. But then, I have yet to see the The Illustrated Hobbit and The Illustrated LotR. They all three sound worthwhile.
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Valedhelgwath
has made 4245 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (11:04am)
My 1979 soft-back copy has definitely seen better days (it even got dropped down the toilet one night when I was in a drunken state) so this new edition could be just what I've been waiting for. Seeing my faithful old copy beside me though stirs strong emotions. It has been a good friend, and even with all the fancy illustrations and fold-out maps, I don't think I'd ever get the same pleasure out of a new copy that I have had out of my old one.

The same goes for Lord of the Rings... I've still not got the illustrated copies of those.
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Rhapsody
has made 599 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (11:28am)
Quote:
My 1979 soft-back copy has definitely seen better days (it even got dropped down the toilet one night when I was in a drunken state) so this new edition could be just what I've been waiting for.


Val!!! Super Wow Smilie

I shall not ask how your copy ended up there... One can always use more books... I have an old dutch copy of the Silmarillion with lovely clour drawings in them and my very much used Harper Collins black edition of the Silmarillion.... I prefer completing HOME first... although calling a friend and asking him to look things up for you in HOME can be quite charming as well Smile Smilie
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Amarië
has made 2785 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (03:49pm)
Quote:
although calling a friend and asking him to look things up for you in HOME can be quite charming as well Smile Smilie
Here we usually just ask Val. Wink Smilie
Good thing you didn't flush down the poor book, Val. How could you treat an old trusty friend like that? Tsk tsk tsk... Wink Smilie
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Shaya puma
has made 97 posts and is an Elf from Lothlorien and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (05:25pm)
I think the single best illustrations for Tolkien are by Tolkien. I cannot objectively claim he is a great illustrator, but his images, especially for The Hobbit are just perfectly evocative. Otherwise, I tend to dislike most illustrations done for Tolkien's work. Even good illustrators, Lee, Howe, Naismith, are spot on only some of the time.

Some illustrators are very technically competant and truly awful, like the Hildebrants and Darrell Sweet. There's a Rowena dancing Luthien that is almost unbelievably sleazy.

Virumor, where might I see something of Eissmann? I have not heard of that artist.
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Túrin Turambar
has made 617 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Wednesday 5th January 2005 (05:16am)
since we're on to the subject of flushing things down the toilet i have a recent story.

I was "going #1" at work, i flushed the toilet and i heard a PLOP. when i looked down i couldn't really see what went in the toilet because it the rushing water was too quick, BUT i did notice the buckle from my belt was missing. The belt i just got for christmas from my little sister...

So ya that was a little dissapointing because it was brand, spanking, new and now it's useless without the buckle. Although in the end i think, if that buckle decides to get lodged somewhere in the sewer pipes, my boss might end up being the most upset... But i'll let it be a surprise Wink Smilie
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Elfstone
has made 1502 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (07:59pm)
Elfstone is a Community Supporter!
Quote:
But the one he made of L’thien dancing in Neldoreth, is absolutely fabulous, of course
.

Yes, that one is great; I even like that one better than Alan Lee’s Luthien. There’s also a really great new one Nasmith did of Aule getting ready to destroy the dwarves that I really like a lot!

Quote:
I don't think I'd ever get the same pleasure out of a new copy that I have had out of my old one
.

Yeah, I know what you mean Val, the sentimental value of your 1979 copy rightfully will never be eclipsed, but I know you would love this new edition as well!
Orc With Thumbs Up Smilie
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Virumor
has made 3567 posts and is a Rohirrim from Edoras and is not online.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (11:08pm)
Quote:
Virumor, where might I see something of Eissmann? I have not heard of that artist.

www.nightrunner.com/gallery is a site where one can find the works of a lot of Tolkien artists, including Anke-Katrin Eissmann.
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Grondmaster
has made 25465 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and has sailed into the West.
Posted Sunday 2nd January 2005 (11:32pm)
Shucks, last Summer I knocked the handset from a Casio PhoneMate into the John from the vanity; I fished it out, rinsed it off, shook it violently, opened it up, and let it dry out for a week. It worked and continued to do so until it died in early December, probably because of some contacts finally becoming too badly corroded. It still holds a charge, but now there is no dial tone.

If you were to immediately fish out The Silmarillion or any book after being washed in the John, and then rinse it off, dry it, and open its pages so they don't stick together, there really shouldn't be a problem: it should be good reading for years.
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Valedhelgwath
has made 4245 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Monday 3rd January 2005 (10:58am)
Quote:
Good thing you didn't flush down the poor book, Val. How could you treat an old trusty friend like that?


I think it shows how much I think of it, that it did get fished out. At least after the amount I had drunk that night, it will be well preserved, even if a little yellow around the edges.

I must admit, since I found out about it yesterday, I've been thinking about the new edition a lot.
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Lord_aragorn86
has made 2242 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Monday 3rd January 2005 (02:17pm)
Quote:
even if a little yellow around the edges.

I hope, that the yellow is only due to the fading of the page colour and not due to what I think it is. After all It was dropped down the toilet. My God!!
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Túrin Turambar
has made 617 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Wednesday 5th January 2005 (05:19am)
what? you have a weak stomach? Exploding Head Smilie Dead Smilie Duck Smilie
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