An original drawing by J.R.R. Tolkien is to be sold at auction by Tennants of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, on 13 April 2011. Drawn in pencil and coloured pencil, New Lodge, Stonyhurst depicts the garden of the guest house at which Tolkien stayed in Stonyhurst, Lancashire on three occasions. Tolkien made the drawing in August 1947 and gave it to the family who owned New Lodge. Currently a small reproduction may be seen on the auctioneer’s website, which lists the house estimate of the sale price as £15,000-20,000. The drawing is also reproduced, with better colour, in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, fig. 28.

We have no financial interest in this sale, and are posting information as a favour to the owner of the drawing, a friend who kindly allowed us to reproduce it in Artist and Illustrator sixteen years ago.

Wayne & Christina