wink
So as I'm walking past the hall's front desk I observe that I've recieved a package. 'Praise be to Eru!' I exclaimed out loud,* earning the strange stares of the other inferior members of the dorm as I rushed to the desk. You see, a few days ago, I purchased the Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversay edition as well as the illustrated Silmarillion hardcover from Amazon, and it seemed as if they had finally arrived.
Realizing that I had only twenty minutes before class, all had time only to look at one. Not wanting to scar the 50th Anniversary LotR so soon, I opened the Silmarillion first.
It was beautiful. heart
Turns out that the vast majority of the illustrations were new, never seen before etc. etc. Images of Aule preparing to smite the horrified Dwarves, an image of the absolute horror on Tar-Miriel's face when she realizes she's gonna die, the battle of the First Kinslaying in the darkened world of Alqualonde, the burning of the Telerin ships, Eol being thrust off the cliff of Gondolin...
And the cover image is Numenor.
White Ships from Valinor :: Warning, Very Big
Even though the title is White Ships from Valinor, its pretty obvious that its Numenore. After all, the Elves visited the Isle of Gift all the time until time itself corrupted the lore of the Numenoreans. Oh, and the darkness in the sky? Shadow caused by my scanner. The actual image is very very pretty. smile
Why did I scan this image? Well, firstly, because I'm campaigning as we speak. Numenore for Pres! I also did so because I had NEVER before seen a good image of Numenor done by any artist. The only real Numenor illustrations are those depicting the Fall. Its nice to see one of pre-Shadow Numenor for once. I thought there may be one or two of you who feel the same.
Plus I wanted to brag about my books. xp
* Not really.
EDIT:
Ted Nasmith
Here, in advance of its publication, is the cover jacket (front) for the new expanded illustrated Silmarillion. The painting is called White Ships From Valinor, and it also will appear inside the book. It was very gratifying to finally do this painting, after identifying it as a possible theme some 8 years ago. In the accounts of Numenor, it's mentioned that during its golden age, ships from Valinor would sail to Andunie, the westernmost city on the island, bearing gifts and trade from the Teleri of Eressea and Tirion.
Originally, my idea was to take a view looking out to sea at the approaching ships from the hill of the Tower of Tar Palantir, but realized it would too closely resemble the composition of The Eagles of Manwe. The advantage, moreover, of looking in towards the land from the ships, allowed the depiction of a part of Numenor, a land and time still largely unexplored by artists. The result was thought so successful that it was chosen as the work to place on the cover.