{"id":1788209,"date":"2020-01-16T17:56:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T22:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788209"},"modified":"2020-01-16T17:56:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T22:56:47","slug":"christopher-tolkien-1924-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-1924-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Tolkien, 1924-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Christopher Tolkien, map from The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em> (Unwin, 1954). The British Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christopher Tolkien, the third son of J. R. R. Tolkien and the executor of his literary estate and editor of his posthumous works, died yesterday at the age of 95<\/a>. But one of his legacies is likely to be overlooked: he drew the map of Middle-earth<\/a> that appeared in the first edition of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. That map proved hugely influential. It helped set the norm for subsequent epic fantasy novels: they would come with maps, and those maps would look rather a lot like the one drawn by Christopher Tolkien.<\/p>\n

Christopher Tolkien himself was self-deprecating about the execution of his map, and about the design choices he made. Regarding a new version of the map he drew for Unfinished Tales<\/em>, he took pains to emphasize that<\/p>\n

the exact preservation of the style and detail (other than nomenclature and lettering) of the map that I made in haste twenty-five years ago does not argue any belief in the excellence of its conception or execution. I have long regretted that my father never replaced it by one of his own making. However, as things turned out it became, for all its defects and oddities, \u201cthe Map,\u201d and my father himself always used it as a basis afterwards (while frequently noticing its inadequacies).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However hastily it was drawn, it was pivotal all the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Tolkien, the third son of J. R. R. Tolkien and the executor of his literary estate and editor of his posthumous works, died yesterday at the age of 95. But one of his legacies… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,581],"tags":[87,31,486,397],"class_list":["post-1788209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-maps-and-literature","category-obituaries","tag-fantasy-map-design","tag-fantasy-maps","tag-middle-earth","tag-tolkien","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1788230,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/celebrating-christopher-tolkiens-cartographic-legacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":0},"title":"Celebrating Christopher Tolkien’s Cartographic Legacy","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 January 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"It turns out that I wasn\u2019t finished talking about the maps drawn by Christopher Tolkien. My latest piece for Tor.com, \u201cCelebrating Christopher Tolkien\u2019s Cartographic Legacy,\u201d went live at Tor.com this morning. It looks at the collaborative process between J. R. R. Tolkien and his son Christopher as father and son\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/christopher-tolkien-header-cc.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1786276,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/09\/maps-middle-earth-style-by-hand-and-by-arcgis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":1},"title":"Maps Middle-earth Style: By Hand and by ArcGIS","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 September 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Dan Bell's career drawing maps of real-world places in the style of maps of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth continues apace; a recent piece, a map of San Francisco, got written up in the San Francisco Chronicle, and his website is full of other recent works. But computer mapping may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/nelson-lotr-usa-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/nelson-lotr-usa-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/nelson-lotr-usa-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/nelson-lotr-usa-1024x683.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1838,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/05\/bodleian-library-acquires-annotated-tolkien-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":2},"title":"Bodleian Library Acquires Annotated Tolkien Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 May 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"A map of Middle-earth annotated by J. R. R. Tolkien himself that was discovered among the papers of illustrator Pauline Baynes last year and\u00a0subsequently put up for auction has been purchased by Oxford's Bodleian Library for its Tolkien archive. News coverage:\u00a0BBC News,\u00a0Guardian. Previously:\u00a0Map of Middle-earth, Annotated by Tolkien Himself, Discovered.","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/annotated-map-tolkien.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/annotated-map-tolkien.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/annotated-map-tolkien.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/annotated-map-tolkien.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6034,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/10\/middle-earth_map-annotated-by-tolkien-discovered\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":3},"title":"Map of Middle-earth, Annotated by Tolkien Himself, Discovered","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 October 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"A map of Middle-earth annotated by J. R. R. Tolkien has been found. The map, found among the papers of illustrator Pauline Baynes, who died in 2008, was used by Baynes while she worked on a full-colour map of Middle-earth published in 1970. Tolkien's annotations appear on the map in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1784840,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/dan-bells-tolkien-style-maps-of-the-lake-district\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":4},"title":"Dan Bell’s ‘Tolkien-Style’ Maps of the Lake District","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 January 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Maps of real places done up in the style of fantasy maps are a thing, as those who have been following along will know by now. I'm planning a dedicated page on the subject in the Fantasy Maps section. That page will have to include Dan Bell's maps of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/dan-bell-middle-earth-lake-district-1024x637.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/dan-bell-middle-earth-lake-district-1024x637.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/dan-bell-middle-earth-lake-district-1024x637.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/dan-bell-middle-earth-lake-district-1024x637.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1806482,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/03\/the-tolkien-estates-new-website-includes-manuscript-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788209,"position":5},"title":"The Tolkien Estate’s New Website Includes Manuscript Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 March 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"The Tolkien Estate now has a website, which among other things includes J.\u00a0R.\u00a0R.\u00a0Tolkien\u2019s own paintings, illustrations\u2014and maps. But the maps aren\u2019t from the published editions of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion: those were drawn by his son Christopher. These are Tolkien\u2019s own maps, drawn during the writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788209"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788212,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788209\/revisions\/1788212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}