Poems and Stories. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980. First Edition Thus. Smooth black buckram boards, with tree embossed in gold & green to upper cover, title lettered on spine, with gilt riles. Housed in original publisher’s case. A fine bright copy.

Pauline Baynes’ illustrations for J.R.R. Tolkien’s works are renowned for their delicate yet vivid style, perfectly complementing the author’s rich mythological worlds. Her artwork, often compared to medieval manuscript illuminations, captured the essence of Middle-earth with a sense of wonder and precision.

Tolkien himself admired her work, once remarking that she had “reduced my text to a commentary on her drawings.”