Middle-Earth Map Annotated By JRR Tolkien Discovered In Copy Of Lord Of The Rings

A map of Middle Earth with notes from JRR Tolkien himself is definitely not something you stumble upon every day, but that didn't stop me from checking my copy of an annotated The Hobbit just to be sure.

No such luck on my end, but Blackwell's Rare Books in Oxford was handed a copy of the fantasy classic, but there was something a little extra in there. The book had belonged to artist Pauline Baynes, who had worked with Tolkien on maps of the land. Even though the two had a rocky relationship starting out, he was very pleased with her work.

The map is currently on exhibit in Oxford and is for sale for a whopping £60,000 (roughly $92,000) and a testament to both Tolkien and Baynes' collaborative genius, and how obsessed Tolkien was with detail. Blackwell is calling the map "an important document, and perhaps the finest piece of Tolkien ephemera to emerge in the last 20 years at least".

Baynes had also worked with author C. S. Lewis on his Narnia series and some of her signed artwork are also on sale at Blackwell.