The above image, of which there are many versions online, is Barbara Remington’s original artwork, for the 1970s LOTR trilogy, as published by Ballantine Books.
It appears to be a single composite image, from which covers for the three sub-sections of the trilogy (Tolkien always wanted it to be one big book; but his publishers insisted it would be better as three) were extracted.
The above map, with a brilliant illustrative border by Babs, was produced as a poster. I must, somehow, some day, have it!
The detail above is rather similar to the detail I picked from the cover, at the top of this post. Which is nice, as it gives this little blog entry some visual and thematic consistency.
I believe that my very first exposure to Remington’s highly individual and enchanting style was this:
My dad had this book, in this very Ballantine edition. I bought a cheap copy off Amazon, for myself, some years back. Not for the writing, which, frankly, I think is pretty dreadful (Orville Prescott thought otherwise!), but instead/solely for the terrific cover.
Anyway, there you go… not a great deal of info, but just a wee celebration of the fabulous Tolkienian art of Barbara Remington.