Yes, I found it very informative and for me one of the highlights! The difference’s between the originals and Eric’s interpretation were interesting. I’m not able to visit the exhibition so if ever a catalogue appears for sale online to buy, I’d be interested.

hi, long time lurker, first time poster, here to resurrect this ancient thread :)
i recently got the CD box set that includes the Queen's original sketches, and one thing has been bugging me. i mentioned it in the video here (sorry to plug my stuff right off the gate but i'm sure some of you will find it interesting) as well as my video on the folio society edition:



essentially, the booklet in the box set also includes some of the frontispiece illustrations, which i always assumed were Eric Fraser originals, not based off any of the Queen's drawings, since i could find none that correspond to these illustrations found in the Folio edition (the famous frontispiece ringwraith for example). however, this box set names Queen Margrethe as the only illustrator and has no mention of Eric Fraser anywhere as far as i could see. there are some of her vertical illustrations that sort of have the same approach, but those designs (they are marked by her signature in the booklet) differ in content and technique from the finalized artwork printed in the Folio edition, only the style is a bit similar.
now, was i wrong to assume these were not touched by the Queen and were purely the work of Fraser, or did she indeed make them? i am more inclined to believe my theory and just assume they were included in this booklet by mistake, but if anyone has any information it sure would help me sleep better, if there's anyone that knows, they would be found here.

also side note, if there's any interest i would be glad to scan and share the illustrations in the booklet, because the ones on the chinese website shared in this thread are a bit low quality.

A cheeky suggestion: you could always write to Margrethe II's secretary or something and ask if she can clarify!

You might want to contact MarieBreta via a PM.

She may already have the answers to your questions or could point you in the right direction.

Her post on the research she was doing. https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... t_id=40439#forumpost40439

Some of the images in the booklet are (IMHO) definitely Eric Fraser -

- Frontis
- p25
- p69

I just assumed it was an attribution mistake when selecting the images for the booklet.

Note that I personally ended up not scanning the booklet (and just cleaned up the ones from website previously linked), though I had bought the CD set with the intention of doing so. It wouldn't have been possible to scan without damaging the booklet. The images are small anyway, so the quality gains from re-scanning would be minimal. I didn't include any of the Fraser illustrations when I did my "clean up".

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders ... JPIyiN76CQoPD?usp=sharing

I really enjoyed your other video bookelmen about the Folio Society edition of LotR when I watched it last night (and in fact I find them all lovely to watch). I think that the Queen's illustration for The Window on the West looks to be a picture of the entrance to Henneth Annûn, rather than looking out of the cave through the waterfall as in Fraser's illustration for the chapter. You noted (around 3:53 of the other video this was to make the picture more in line with the description in the book, but I don't think it's depicting the same scene. The picture of the entrance from outside avoids giving a spoiler of the spectacular view from inside at the very start of the chapter, and to be seems, in hindsight, a very clever choice.

DMRoberts wrote:

A cheeky suggestion: you could always write to Margrethe II's secretary or something and ask if she can clarify!

haha i considered it, and since she abdicated last year, Her Majesty might even have time for a private audience :D

Trotter wrote:

You might want to contact MarieBreta via a PM.

She may already have the answers to your questions or could point you in the right direction.

Her post on the research she was doing. https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... t_id=40439#forumpost40439

i did consider that as well, i read through this thread and also saw her amazing talk on youtube on the folio society silmarillion where she mentioned a similar talk on the folio lord of the rings, but it seems that one sadly isn't online. but true, she is most likely the one to ask!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the mention of my work!

As far as I can tell without seeing the CD booklet illustrations, it's safe to assume that anything done in pencil or ink with a sketchy feeling is by the Queen, and anything in very neat ink is by Eric Fraser. Most of Fraser's pictures were redrawn from the Queen's drawings, but some are pure Fraser. However, I've worked from the illustrated Lord of the Rings, not from this CD so while there's probably a lot of overlap, I can't be categorical.

I did publish some of my work regarding the Queen's illustrations but only in French so far, here : https://voirtolkien.hypotheses.org/869

I do plan to publish the talk I gave in English at Oxford in 2022 on my PhD blog, because the talk I gave at Tolkien2019 has been published by it was very early in my research and I had more questions than answers. I just can't give you a date at which the blog post will be available.

Wow, was that really 2022!? It was one of my favourites of that years Oxonmoot. Thank you for the update, Marie

Huan wrote:

Wow, was that really 2022!? It was one of my favourites of that years Oxonmoot. Thank you for the update, Marie

Thank you so much, Huan! Yes, 2022 feels like a decade ago.