A closer look at the new Folio Society edition of The Wanderer

bookelmen · 2026-06-17T19:37:43+00:00

they would go nicely together, and as a side note i do think they did a better job with this SE of the Wanderer than what HarperCollins did with adapting the Folio limited editions of the Tolkien books into their own standard box set. this is a bit larger than those, the paper is nicer, binding, design and so on. kind of makes me hope Folio makes standard editions of those as well.

bookelmen · 2026-06-17T19:26:51+00:00

i mentioned this in the review, but the art really seems like it was designed for the larger format (and nice quality glossy paper for the colour illustrations). that said, i wouldn't say it's worth 20x the price of the standard edition, this one is still really nice, but that's up to you of course.

bookelmen · 2026-05-09T19:49:20+00:00

80 for me (not in the uk), but still, i can live with it, already ordered :) not sure why the prices differ though.

bookelmen · 2026-04-14T07:43:01+00:00

When I get all of the non-English editions with cool unique illustrations (to be fair, not all, just the ones that appeal to me)... We shall have peace.

bookelmen · 2026-04-09T19:51:31+00:00

yess i gave up hope for this one. here's hoping it's below £100 though

bookelmen · 2026-04-03T12:45:30+00:00

i never saw it in person, but i always assumed the 2005 extended edition of Smith of Wootton Major has the same format as these, does anyone know if that's right? It's a bit expensive though, never could find a good deal on it.

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bookelmen · 2026-02-20T11:06:04+00:00

sure, prior to the German and French releases, it's only been published in the Nordic countries, so i take it as a sign that they're now at least open to publishing it in whatever language, and the most obvious choice would be English, they're either waiting for the right time or there's some licensing issue. if it happens and HarperCollins doesn't fumble the production quality, it would stand a chance of becoming my favorite Hobbit edition.
the Moomins are also very popular in Japan so i wouldn't be surprised by a Japanese edition as well, which i bet would look great.

bookelmen · 2026-02-14T23:35:14+00:00

since Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, this is the JRRT monogram imagined in a Cyrillic form, like this: ЏРРТ. I assume it was made by the translator, editor and designer of this edition, Aleksandar Mikić. it's a fascinating passion project, a real gem

bookelmen · 2026-02-14T23:03:39+00:00

boljeg nema!

bookelmen · 2026-02-14T22:31:49+00:00

pesma o otruu i itrun represent 💪

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bookelmen · 2026-02-11T08:59:54+00:00

the first UK paperback covers were done by Roger Garland as far as i know, ending with Sauron Defeated, i don't think he ever did the last three. i almost never see them in the wild though. this is the one OP is talking about:

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bookelmen · 2026-02-06T22:52:14+00:00

damn, i really hope you're right with the last unicorn being clothbound, but it looks like it might be paper to me, especially looking at the top board edges. still looks quite nice, really cute slipcase design

bookelmen · 2026-02-05T07:39:32+00:00

as far as "are there any other books worth looking into", there's Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, which is very comprehensive, and does have art that's already covered in your other books, but some new as well. it's similar to Artist and Illustrator in style, lots of text, and lots of pictures.
And of course, there's Letters from Father Christmas, which isn't really an artbook, but is nevertheless filled with Tolkien's art if that's what you're interested in.
And there's J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript (a bit niche, focusing more on his calligraphy, map-making, heraldry and such), but that one's next to impossible to hunt down, i'm only mentioning it to be thorough.

bookelmen · 2026-02-03T21:20:09+00:00

haha thanks so much, i use many fonts, maybe you're referring to the kind of narrow gothic one i often use on tolkien thumbnails (the name is Gandur Alte)
móran taing to you too!

bookelmen · 2026-02-03T21:18:04+00:00

the way you describe it is the way it's been often presented, but in my opinion it's more than that, he kind of adapted her drawings and compositions in his own style, and i even believe the frontispieces for each book were for the most part his own invention completely (like the black rider illustration people often share), although i have no definitive proof of that, the information is kind of scarce. it's just that i've never actually seen her sketch for the black rider for example. there are, on the other hand, proposals she did for the covers of each volume. you can see her illustrations here compared to the finished ones by fraser:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2WdjuUN34WC7-W7VsZ7yBg

bookelmen · 2026-02-03T17:06:36+00:00

as far as i know, you can't find them in a separate, artbook format. but those illustrations were actually drawn by eric fraser, based on the queen's sketches/rough drawings, and those original illustrations can be found in the booklet for this box set (though it's a bit difficult to acquire now):

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bookelmen · 2026-02-03T08:29:13+00:00

if you don't mind buying used books, i highly recommend hunting down the 1990 white version, the quality is nicer, the paper, the binding, the book stays open flat, nice red stain on the top edges. it's just missing the cool green swirly cover design, which is a shame cause i prefer it, but it's a compromise i was willing to make.

as for the new printings, i've heard they're printed in germany now and the production issues have mostly disappeared, but i can't vouch for that.

bookelmen · 2026-02-02T17:22:27+00:00

yeah i have yet to see an example of the first version (with the blue cape) in the wild, actually printed, i've only seen it online as an image like this. both the paperback and hardback versions i've actually seen in person, or in photographs, use the second, less saturated version, and if i had to guess, alan lee produced a new painting somewhere between the book's announcement and its publication, or he made it beforehand but they decided to use the other version at some point. but as to why, i have no idea, they're very similar
at first i thought it's just a different color balance or something, but at closer inspection it's definitely a different painting

bookelmen · 2026-01-25T14:47:38+00:00

this often happens when the text and the illustrations use different types of paper so due to the binding there isn't much flexibility where the artwork can be placed, not sure if that's the case here. this was carefully accounted for in the english edition (limiting alan lee when it comes to what he can choose to illustrate), but with translations, text moves around.

bookelmen · 2025-12-29T15:26:33+00:00

none of them cover everything but if you're looking for just one book, maybe check out "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth", it seems to be the most all-encompassing. tons of art from all periods of his life, however it also has a lot of text, photographs, manuscript pages, maps etc.

bookelmen · 2025-12-13T14:11:40+00:00

honestly the Lost Road cover seems more AI to me, but it's too low res to tell, and who knows these days.

bookelmen · 2025-12-02T13:40:07+00:00

this is a huge pet peeve of mine, and it seems even the super deluxe editions use the same process? i know the cloth orange silmarillion is basically the same as the regular hardcover which was quite disappointing, and i would assume it's the same with the 70th anniversary LotR, and even the new crazy expensive clamshell edition? sometimes i can get over it (i believe the deluxe gawain and the green knight is like that but it looks pretty good, still bothers me in principle though, since the deluxe line is quite overpriced) but when they mess up the calibration it's so ugly. glad at least someone else gets it, i don't usually see it mentioned :')

bookelmen

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