Customer Reviews

A Hobbits Journal: Beign A Blank Book With Some Curious Illustrations Of Friends And Foes Of The Nine Companions

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Full agreement with prior reviewers who pointed out: This is not a book by J.R.R. Tolkien, any more than a blank book with Obi-Wan Kenobi on it is by George Lucas. It's simply a very short blank book with some illustrations (which are, BTW, not by Tolkien either).

It's very short, as blank books go, and I thought the illustrations were a bit off. Not simply because I envisioned most of the characters differently, but because such characters as Legolas don't resemble humanoids at all. (Elves are supposed to have noses, ya know). Other characters simply don't look right -- I thought Boromir was all wrong, for example, and Bilbo and Gandalf too. The paper is of nice quality, though.

Some of the accompanying illustrations were nice, but others (such as the unicorn) simply looked odd. The title is misleading -- you would expect for this to be the adventures through Sam's eyes, but all it has is a brief blurb about him, and that's it.

I don't really recommend this as either a blank book or a Tolkien fan's possession. It just isn't worth it.

I have this book and it is a blank journal for YOU to write in. Most every page is illustrated with creatures/characters conceived from Tolkien's works. These other reviewers who are saying that this book was a great read have no idea what they are talking about and have obviously never even seen this book.

This is as it says on the cover ' Being a blank book with some curious illustrations of friends& foes of the none companions'. It is a journal for you to write in or look at the very good artwork, by the artist Michael Green. It should certainly enrich your Tolkien experience. Some particularly great illustrations here are: ' The long wait of Arwen Evenstar', ' Bombadil', ' Another daughter of the river king', 'By the doors of Durin', ' Another notch for Gimli's ax', ' Saruman', 'Shield- Maiden of Rohan', 'The Palantir is taken', ' Oliphant', 'The darkness of Denethor', ' The trial of Gondor', 'Ghan Buri Ghan', 'The mouth of Sauron' and 'Rosielass Gamgee '.
The drawings of Aragorn and Elrond though, seem incorrect.
To clear up misconceptions, the book was published in 1979, 7 years after the passing of JRR Tolkien, and 22 years "before the movie hype began".
It is a pleasant illustrated journal.
And I just love that wonderful , wistful poem at the back of the journal , Lay of the Passing Ages.

This is a nice little journal with lovely illlustrations, but the quality wasn't that great. I was rather disappointed.

This is a lovely journal with beautiful illustation of the characters in Lord of the Rings.

Hey there! Just thought you should know that this is not actually a book for reading or such. It is a journal that you write in. The pages are, however, illustrated nicely, and there are a few snipits of writing. But mostly, it's nice for a person who is going to keep a journal, not an avid reader.

A fabric covered bound book with sketches by Sam Gamgee, there are illustrations that surely could have come from Tolkien's books AND sketches of things a hobbit might have seen on his journey, things that might not have been covered in the books.

As journals (outside of the LOTR's family) this one is very good -- plentiful space on the pages for writing.

If you're an avid fan and just can't stand an artist's eye that differs from your mind's eye, or that of the movie, you might not like this. If you are a free-spirit, with an open mind for creativity, this offers other fascinating views of key characters and a Hobbit's Life.

Presented in 2 colors with a slim ribbon bookmark sewn in, you truly can't find such a fine gift for such a fair price!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I purchased one of these about 15 years ago. As blank books go, it's poor quality (the pages started coming loose/falling out very quickly). The illustrator was probably not familiar with the LOTR books, as the illustrations are not accurate; they also have an amateurish quality, as if they were drawn by an art student instead of a professional artist. The reason I bought the book at the time was simply because it was one of the larger page formats available; however there are many more blank book options available now than I was able to find at the time.

In the late 1970's Michael Green came out with three books from Running Press titled "A Walk Through the Shire, "A Hobbit's Journal," and "A Hobbit's Travels." When I saw this 2002 book titled "A Hobbit's Journal" that featured 4 illustrations on the cover I had my hopes up that Running Press was re-issuing the 3 volumes with new material in a hardback version. Alas, it is not so. This book is the same blank journal as its predecessor from the 70's. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. It is actually very nice to have a hardbound version of the original.

The book is very well illustrated on the whole. Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and the hobbits look great. Legolas looks terrible. The idea that this is Sam's journal is really irrelevant - some of the scenes shown are things that Sam never witnessed in the story but may have had described to him by other members of the Fellowship after his adventure was over.

The major criticism I have of this book is that after 3/4ths of the illustrations are printed, the book starts over from the beginning and reproduces the same illustrations from the opening of the book. This was unnecessary. As I've said, Running Press had access to TWO other illustrated books by Green. They should have either combined all the past works or just printed a single volume with no repeats.

The book is, however, a nice addition to any Tolkien collector's library that happens to lack the original titles.

~Lotho Sackville-Baggins~

This is a splendid book. The illustrations are of superb quality, especially those of Frodo and Gandalf. Captures the true essence of LOTR. Can't recommend enough.