About a year ago I predicted that the art for the Tolkien calendar and diary for the year 2008 would be from Alan Lee. In my mind was then The "Lord of the Rings" Sketchbook. It was the best selling Tolkien related item for almost the complete year of 2006 at the largest on line bookstores. Little did I know then that there would be a new Tolkien book coming out which would also feature art by Alan Lee, Children of Hurin.

From april 2007 publicity and marketing coverage will be extensive on the back of the launch of the new book Children of Hurin. Activity includes a newly designed consumer focused website www.tolkien.co.uk, online promotions and 3rd party partnerships. It will also give us a Tolkien calendar and diary! Annual sales of the Tolkien Calendar are around 70,000 copies worldwide and the Tolkien Diary sells about 10,000 copies worldwide. Probably this year it will do even better.

The official Tolkien calendar and diary will this year contain the finest watercolours by Alan Lee. These will be selected from The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien and other works illustrated by Alan Lee. As usual these will be accompanied by numerous pencil sketches, many unique to this calendar.

The Tolkien calendar 2008 will feature 13 delightful new paintings & illustrations by the acclaimed and Oscar-winning artist. All scenes in this year’s calendar come from Children of Hurin, the newly completed tale of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. It can not be pre-ordered yet, but here is all the info I could gather so far.

An item we can already pre-order is the annual Tolkien diary, this year containing a haunting collection of watercolours and pencil sketches by acclaimed and Oscar-winning Tolkien artist, Alan Lee, from the newly published Children of Hurin, J.R.R. Tolkien's epic tale of adventure set in Middle-earth. This year's Tolkien diary is more sumptuous than ever, and is not only illustrated by the acclaimed and Oscar-winning Tolkien artist Alan Lee, it has been designed by him, too, with the same care and attention to detail that has seen his work embraced by the Tolkien Estate, Peter Jackson and discerning fans around the world. The content itself is particularly special, as it is inspired by a Tolkien work that is seeing print in its complete form for the very first time. To accompany each watercolour painting from Children of Hurin, the newly published epic tale of adventure by J.R.R. Tolkien, every month features complementary pencil drawings selected by Alan and there are also brand new sketches produced exclusively for this calendar. Alan Lee has depicted famous scenes including Gollum and Bilbo, Rivendell and Smaug the Dragon in his celebrated illustrated editions of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', but with these brand new paintings and drawings he will take the reader deeper into the enchanting world of Middle-earth than ever before.

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