[Child of the 7th Age]

I picked up his hardcover Bestiary many years ago. It did have way too many errors but there was and is one nice thing about the book. The illustrations, both color and black and white sketches, are first rate and are done by a group of eleven different artists.

I have noticed the same thing about several others of Day's laters books. I make it a point only to pick them up on remainder tables for $4 or less, since the content is iffy at best amd a lot of the entries are just repackaged information with a different cover. But, strangely enough, it is the illustrations that sometimes make the books worth purchasing, at least for a few dollars each.

The Hobbit Companion, for example, which someone else mentioned, contains many supposed derivations of hobbit words and names. From what I can see, few of them have the slightest grounding in reality other than the author's imagination. However, Lidia Postma's depictions of hobbits are a lot of fun, and were reissued in a recent calendar.

Tolkien's Ring is another strange book by Day -- tracing the origin of magic rings in a whole host of world mythologies -- many of which have nothing whatsoever to do with Tolkien! However, the illustrations are by Alan Lee and those are all first rate.

Tolkien's Illustrated Encyclopedia also has some stunning illustrations from 19 different artists.

What I'd like to know is how he manages to get such a plethora of strong illustrators for his works! I haven't seen this with any other author.

If you have money for one good Tolkien guide, I would definitely pass up Day. But if it's sitting on the remainder table for $4 and you're into visual depictions of Middle-earth, the illustrations may be worth the purchase.

sharon

[ October 06, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]