I remember a very distinctive style used in most Tolkien-related stuff available back in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
Sorta purple and red, with lots of spikey mountains. The only thing I can find is a poster (copyright held by either Barbara Remington and/or Ballantine Books.)
There was a lot more, where can I find it?
The books I got back in the '70s are like these.
The cover of the original Ballantine Books paperback edition (in the late 1960’s, not the 1970’s) of The Lord of the Rings were drawn by an artist named Barbara Remington. She’s not known for much else. She hadn’t even read the books when she made the painting that used for the covers of the three volumes, just a summary of the story. (The painting is a continuous one, but separate sections of it were used on the cover of each volume.) Most long-time Tolkien fans consider it to be a distinctly odd illustration of the story. It appears to have emus and some odd trees with Christmas bulbs in them. Those Tolkien fans generally think of those covers with some nostalgia, but they don’t actually consider them to be good artwork.
I remember maps and puzzles and paperbacks with artwork like this …
Was this the style parodied on the cover of “Bored of the Rings”?
YES! Exactly that!
Ah, the same site has a bit more about Barbara!
God bless the fans.
And THAT!
Thanks, folks.
Yes, Johnny L.A., that’s the painting.
The artwork on the covers in the 1970’s were the ones linked to by Johnny L.A. in post 2, which are Tolkien’s own drawings.
I think I’m having a flashback. I had that poster when I was 16. There was also a calendar with Tolkiens own art. Kind of childlike and primitive. [del]It was far out[/del]. I really liked it.
:throws away hand:
This thread is a trip down Memory Lane for me. The first edition of LOTR that I read had the covers in Johnny L.A.'s eBay link. I didn’t know they were based on The Professor’s own drawings. That’s cool.
The covers on my LOTR paperbacks span three decades. My 1965 “Two Towers” has the trippy Barbara Remington painting. From 1981, “Return of the King” is (dis)graced with a depiction of Aragorn discovering the seedling of the White Tree on a snowy mountaintop. As I have no scanner I will try to paint a picture with words under the spoiler, below.
From the link provided by pesch:
That sounds like what I have for “Fellowship”; in the upper left corner is “Ace Science Fiction Classic A-4 75¢”. It’s a rather slapdash painting of a wizard gesticulating atop a rock, with men in leotards, hoods, and pointy hats climbing up behind him. The book itself is falling apart.
My copy of “Bored of the Rings” with the Remington parody on the cover has vanished. :mad: 
Another reason to clean out this place.
Thanks everyone for the info!
Bad enough that Aragorn sports sideburns and a weedy mustache with no beard, but he’s wearing some brocaded brown jacket with elbow-lenth sleeves over a mauve shirt. Wrapped over all this is a billowing purple cloak pinned with an enormous (like, rodeo rider’s belt-buckle-sized) gold broach with a green stone (“See? I read the book, so there.”) And topping the whole affair is a circlet sprouting stylized wings that recalls not so much the gull-winged crown of the Lords of Gondor as the foil swan that fancy restaurants make to wrap leftover pork chops. Gandalf fares better in standard-issue white robes and a bishop’s crosier for a staff, but he’s standing behind the High King glowering like he wants to go all Queer Eye on his ass.
Gee, I thought you had to be referring to this kind of thing , by the Brothers Hildebrandt. I held on to my calendar for years & years.
Boy, did that bring back bad memories!
Of all the LOTR calendar artists, I loathed them the most!
I had the BRem poster back in the day, too! Sure wish I’d held onto it!
The poster is understandably faded.
The entire painting also appeared on the hardcover edition of Donald Swann’s settings of LOTR songs, “The Road Goes Ever On”.
LOTR Ace paperbacks are worth some money now because they’re so rare. My dad still has his original Ballantine paperback with a snippy little blurb on the back telling readers that if they care about authors being paid for their work, that is the only copy they’ll buy.
That’s the first version I ever saw. What a memory.
I never cared for the Brothers Hildebrandt, either.
Peter Jackson certainly did the right thing when he hired Alan Lee & John Howe.
I’m surprised you guys hated them, I always loved their paintings. That explains why I couldn’t get anything for my 1977 calendar on eBay 
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