Middle-earth, the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion , has been an inspiration for generations of artists. This book includes paintings by artists from all over the world, both famous and unknown, including Alan Lee, John Howe, Ted Nasmith, Inger Edelfeldt, Michael Hague and Roger Garland. Each of the pictures is accompanied by a page of text from the relevant passage in Tolkien's fiction.