About this item
A Middle-earth Traveler is an illustrated guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's most famous creation, with lavish art showing the many locations and characters the author described in his classic novels, along with notes on their importance to the world.A Middle-earth Traveler presents a walking tour of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, visiting not only places central to his stories, but also those just over the hill or beyond the horizon. Events from Tolkien's books are explored - battles of the different ages that are almost legend by the time of The Lord of the Rings; lost kingdoms and ancient myths, as well as those places only hinted at: kingdoms of the far North and lands beyond the seas. Sketches that have an 'on-the-spot' feel to them are interwoven with the artist's observations gleaned from Tolkien's books and recollections of his time spent in Middle-earth while working alongside Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies.
About the Author
John Howe (born August 21, 1957) is a Canadian book illustrator, living in Neuchtel, Switzerland. One year after graduating from high school, he studied in a college in Strasbourg, France, then at the École des Arts Décoratifs.
He is best known for his work based on J. R. R. Tolkien's worlds. Howe and noted Tolkien artist Alan Lee served as chief conceptual designers for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, and Howe also did the illustration for the ""Lord of the Rings"" board game created by Reiner Knizia. Howe also re-illustrated the maps of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion in 1996-2003. His work is however not limited to this, and includes images of myths such as the Anglo Saxon legend of Beowulf (he also illustrated Knizia's board game Beowulf: The Legend) . Howe illustrated many other books, amongst which many belong to the fantasy genre (Robin Hobb's books for instance.) He also contributed to the film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. In 2005 a limited edition of George R. R. Martin's novel A Clash of Kings was released by Meisha Merlin, complete with numerous illustrations by Howe.
Howe has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
For the The Hobbit films, former director Guillermo del Toro and current director Peter Jackson have been in consultation with Howe and fellow conceptual artist Alan Lee to ensure continuity of design.
Howe is a member of the living history group the Company of Saynt George.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Stefan Servos (File:John Howe 2003.jpg) [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) ], via Wikimedia Commons.
