The Silmarillion Illustrated Collector's Edition Revealed + Further Speculation

 




At long last, the product images and description for the forth-coming collector's edition of the illustrated Silmarillion has been revealed! Here's it's ISBN, and description. Remember, this is a HarperCollins edition, and can be obtained the same way as any HarperCollins Tolkien book. Pre-order by Feb latest to ensure you get a copy.

ISBN: 9780008433956

Limited to a worldwide first printing of just 4,000 copies, this deluxe edition is printed in two colours and is fully bound in cloth and stamped in gold foil. Housed in a matching custom-built slipcase decorated with stunning wraparound artwork, it also features two full-colour removable posters that are unique to this edition.

The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative writing, a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth, through the Second Age and the rise of Sauron, to the end of the War of the Ring.

They are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the Elves made war upon him in his impenetrable fortress in Angband for the recovery of the Silmarils, three jewels containing the last remaining pure light of Valinor, seized by Morgoth and set in his iron crown.

Accompanying these tales are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as told in The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien could not publish The Silmarillion in his lifetime, as it grew with him, so he would leave it to his son, Christopher, to edit the work from many manuscripts and bring his father’s great vision to publishable form, so completing the literary achievement of a lifetime. This special edition presents anew this seminal first step towards mapping out the posthumous publishing of Middle-earth, and the beginning of an illustrious forty years and more than twenty books celebrating his father’s legacy.

Also included is a letter by J.R.R. Tolkien written in 1951 which provides a brilliant exposition of the earlier Ages, and almost 50 full-colour paintings by Ted Nasmith, including some which appear here for the first time.

This special slipcased edition is fully bound in cloth and stamped in gold foil; it includes two full-colour removable fold-out posters unique to this edition and is housed in a custom slipcase illustrated with a stunning wraparound painting.

Now, let's use the Unfinished Tales illustrated collector's edition from this year, and the 2021 Calendar as a guide to what the print could be, as well as the cover of the calendar.

Unfinished Tales used John Howe's Nazgul image ("The Hunt for the Ring") as the cover for the collector's edition, and the rear image of the standard edition's dustjacket. Going by the collector's edition for The Silmarillion, we can therefore deduce that the image used for the cover, would also appear as the rear image for the standard edition's dustjacket. ("Maglor Casts a Silmaril.")

Next, on to the print. They said there's two, but we all know that the other image would be the map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North.

The Unfinished Tales illustrated collector's edition included a print of the same same image used as the front cover to the standard edition: the Numenorean ships by Alan Lee. We can also deduce that the print included in the illustrated collector's edition of The Silmarillion, will be the same image used as the front of the dustjacket for the standard edition. ("The Ships of the Faithful.")

Finally, onto the calendar.

I am now willing to bet that the 2022 Calendar will be tied-in with this edition of The Silmarillion. The only thing I can say, is expect it to be filled with Ted Nasmith's various Silmarillion artwork (he's done a lot throughout the years). I'm calling attention to something though: the image used for the cover of the 2021 Calendar is the same used as the wrap-around image on the slipcase for the collector's edition of Unfinished Tales. Once again, going by this logic, expect the 2022 Calendar's cover the be the same as the wrap-around edition for the slipcase to the collector's edition of The Silmarillion ("The Burning of the Ships")