Tolkien Reading Day 2020 and Travel Post 4: Tolkien Exhibits!

oday is Tolkien Reading Day!

Here is the theme and suggested readings from the Tolkien Society:

I'm using this day to catch up on my photos of the three wonderful Tolkien events I've attended in the last two years: Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth (at Oxford); Tolkien 2019 (a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Tolkien Society; in Birmingham); and Tolkien: Journey to Middle-earth (in Paris).

Here are all my scattered photos:

Tolkien's maps and drawings, at Oxford

It's striking seeing some of the sketches and paintings in person, as so many are smaller than yo'd think

My copy of the exhibition book!

Unwrapping it slowly...

I got number 210!

Signed letter from Priscilla Tolkien

I read the catalogue before I saw the exhibit! Which is why I didn't take as many photos in Oxford; I knew my photos wouldn't match the catalogue quality. Too bad, I don't seem to have a photo of my daughter, who came with me!

Tolkien 2019

I still want this book!

Meeting Dr Dimitra Fimi!

Paris!

Tapestries! See below for a link

The Book of Mazarbul

Arthurian tales. There's something so thrilling about seeing books that are nearly a millennium old.

I tried to take as many photos of the explanatory labels as I could, but some didn't come out clearly. And it seems I forgot to take a photo of the ancient Scandinavian sword!

Tolkien's timeline for The Lord of the Rings

As for the tapestries above: I've recently backed this Kickstarter project! (Hoping that by the time this post goes up, the project will have been fully funded): Aubusson weaves Tolkien: Support the weaving of two tapestries after JRR Tolkien


I'm woefully behind on ROW80 and other updates. I haven't been doing too badly though -- getting regular edits done each day on Captive of the Sea, and adding to my list of the all the items I still need to research.

Do you have good sources for the 15th Century?

Please send me research recommendations!