Barbara Remington, the cover artist for the first official paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has passed away at 90. Her illustrations, remembered for their vivid color schemes and fantastic elements, became incredibly popular, even though readers found that they had little to do with the story. For all their success, Remington had to produce the works without getting a chance to read the books.

In 1965 a publishing company called Ace Books printed an unauthorized paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings and began distributing the stolen work across the U.S. These unauthorized reprints are said to have been filled with errors, but they sold extremely well. This led Tolkien, who had never intended his book to exist without a protective hardcover, to recognize the potential of the soft-cover market and he rushed to find a publisher who could quickly put out an official paperback edition.

Ballantine Books was chosen, and the company wanted to get its copies in stores as soon as possible to compete with the pirates at Ace, but this meant they would need cover art immediately. They called in Remington and commissioned her to illustrate all three books of the trilogy, as well as the Ballantine paperback edition of The Hobbit, leaving her with just their titles as descriptions. The New York Times explains in Barbara’s own words: