The official Tolkien calendar, this year containing 16 magnificent landscape paintings by renowned artist Ted Nasmith, selected from 'The Silmarillion' by J.R.R. Tolkien. J R R Tolkien's SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this complex masterpiece that the history and background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented. It contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Elves and of the Silmarils - the magical jewels produced by one of the greatest of the Elves, which were stolen by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord; it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. It also includes a version of the tale of the Children of Húrin, and Túrin's titanic confrontation with the mighty dragon, Glaurung, the agent of Morgoth. These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977, and when the book was recently reset, acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith was commissioned to produce a total of almost 50 breathtaking paintings to accompany these spectacular stories. It is from these that the new Tolkien Calendar has been compliled, and it promises to be one of the most beautiful collections ever published..