When he first published The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien could not have predicted that his tales would not only revolutionize the genres of sci-fi and fantasy, but also transform the world of literature. Indeed, his works have transfixed generations and inspired a series of visually stunning motion pictures.



Tolkien himself, however, actually shied away from visual representations of his stories. He noted that However good in themselves, illustrations do little good to fairy-stories. The radical distinction between all art (including drama) that offers a visible presentation and true literature is that . . . literature works from mind to mind and is thus more progenitive. It is at once more universal and more poignantly particular."





But then he received some illustrations from a woman named Mary Fairburn. A recent TLS blog post details how Fairburn's work so thoroughly impressed Tolkien that he reconsidered his stance on illustrations and went so far as to contact his publisher about including Fairburn's drawings in an upcoming edition. Her illustrations resonated with Tolkien because they were closely based on the text and reminded Tolkien of the way he'd have illustrated the book himself. Unfortunately Fairburn's drawings were never used.





One of Fairburn's illustrations