# Middle-earth maps **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051 "2014-02-24T00:24:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/1 "2014-02-24T00:24:03Z")
I’ve been looking online for maps of Middle-earth. Everything I can find is movie-based, but perhaps my google-fu is weak. Are the original maps which the Tolkiens (Ronald & Christopher) drew available anywhere other than in the books? I’d like copies without folds in them. Also, Pauline Baynes (proverbially Professor Tolkien’s favorite illustrator) produced illustrated poster versions of the maps from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Where can one see/obtain those? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/2 "2014-02-24T00:29:04Z")
My GF bought me a non-movie Middle Earth map long ago. It is poster size, and currently framed and hanging in my office. She doesn’t remember where she bought it (other than “on line”), but I do remember we first saw it hanging in a poster shop at South Street Seaport in NYC (and she noted my salivation over it), if that helps you any. Oops… on closer inspection, it says “New Line Enterprises” in the fine print in the margin. But it looks like authentic Tolkien material to me! ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/3 "2014-02-24T01:47:12Z")
Not originally drawn by Tolkien, but geographer/cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad created an entire Atlas of Middle Earth back in the 1980s. I believe that it’s still in print: > **[The Atlas of Middle-earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Middle_Earth)** > > The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad is an atlas of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth. It was published in 1981, following Tolkien's major works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. It provides many maps at different levels of detail, from whole lands to cities and individual buildings, and of major events like the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The maps are grouped by period, namely the First, Second, and Third Ages of Middle-earth, with chap The... Fonstad also created atlases for other fictional worlds: > **[Karen Wynn Fonstad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wynn_Fonstad)** > > Karen Lea Wynn Fonstad (April 18, 1945 – March 11, 2005) was an American cartographer and academic who designed several atlases of fictional worlds, including her 1981 The Atlas of Middle-earth about J. R. R. Tolkien's creations. > Born Karen Lea Wynn in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to parents James and Estis Wynn, she graduated from Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, and then earned a B.S. degree in Physical Therapy and an M.A. in Geography, specializing in cartography, from the University of Okl... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/4 "2014-02-24T02:35:28Z")
There seem to be several available from different sources and on eBay that appear to be the original map, such as [this one](http://www.etsy.com/listing/178804441/map-poster-the-lord-of-the-rings-middle?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=art_low) and [this one.](http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/141137531975?lpid=82) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/5 "2014-02-24T02:51:03Z")
Someone once did a full-color version that showed a much greater area of land-mass than is in the original books. It showed the equivalent of India and China. Obviously, they took exceptional liberties – they made it up! But it was pretty. I’ve got a copy…er…buried somewhere in my art collection/kitchen midden. ---
**Author:** ![Clare\_de\_Loone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/clare_de_loone/32/3407_2.png) [@Clare\_de\_Loone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clare_de_Loone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/6 "2014-02-24T02:56:56Z")
I picked up the Pauline Baynes one on eBay several years ago, to go with my Baynes Narnia map. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/7 "2014-02-24T15:15:11Z")
Not quite canon, but the _Middle Earth Roleplaying System_ [wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_Role_Playing) came with color maps, and some supplementary books that included maps focusing on distinct regions (like the Shire). ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/middle-earth-maps/682051/8 "2014-03-07T17:39:54Z")
OK, here’s an example. It looks like Thror’s map from the front of The Hobbit. No gold fringe, no extra colours, just the freakin’ map. [Thror’s map](http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-Poster-Karte-Lonely-Mountain/dp/B00H2863IG/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1394213124&sr=8-15&keywords=tolkien+maps)