So, another year, another Tolkien calender. A while back I went back and sorted them by year. It made quite a pile, and the shift of style from year to year is interesting. My favorite, after those by Tolkien himself (esp the early ones), is the 1994 one by Michael Kaluta, which had a Finnish look to me. Which is not to say there have not been some God-awful examples over the years (the Hildebrants come to mind).
This year (2026) features another by Alan Lee, who has a distinctive style, providing a sort of continuity. Lee is not only good but had the advantage that Christopher liked him.
My own vote for an artist (contempory if now somewhat long in the tooth) to illustrate JRRT is Thomas Canty, whose art reminds me strongly of art nouveau and art deco: Many of his pieces look like stained glass windows. Underrated.
Other than that, I saw THE BOVADIUM FRAGMENTS on the shelves of a mainstream bookstore (Barnes & Noble) today, which makes me think we're approaching the saturation point for works by Tolkien. I intend to enjoy it while I can.
--current reading: five books, the least interesting of whch is A. A. Milne's ONCE UPON A TIME (1922), an attempt by the Pooh author to write a fairy tale for adults. Milne had many talents, but it turns out writing a book like this one is not one of them. This sarcastic nudge-nudge wink-wink of a book deserves all the strictures Tolkien made on Milne in OFS.
--John R
