I wasn't terribly impressed with this one. The maps are beautiful, but the little book that comes with them isn't terribly necessary. For each map, there are a couple of pages of how it came about, and then a location-by-location rundown of the plot that concerns the map. I think this is pretty skippable to all except for perhaps a Tolkien scholar who may want the map history or the maps themselves.

If you are a Tolkien collector, an admirer of John Howe's superb Middle Earth paintings or a lover of beautiful books, then you will love this. But be warned, if you want highly detailed maps of Middle Earth overlaid with route plans and information, then you will be disappointed. If you want detail, instead buy Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth or Barbara Strachey's Journeys of Frodo.
This package is beautifuly presented containing howes 4 Middle Earth maps in a hardback folder (the maps are Middle Earth, Beleriand, Numenor and the Hobbit map) with an informative hardback book by Brian Sibley explaining the role of maps in Tolkien's creations and containing a gazetter of place names for each map.
The whole lot is bundled into an attractive slipcase.
Howes maps are not over detailed, and are bordered with representations of scenes from the books painted by Howe. However, the maps contain as much detail as the maps drawn by JRR and Christopher Tolkien.
Howes purpose was not to create detailed cartography surpassing the original maps in detail and annotation, but to create artistic interpretations of the maps.
In other words, view the maps as art rather than detailed guides to Middle Earth and then you will not be disappointed.

I found this while browsing Half Priced Books. These maps are amazing. Tolkien's maps, drawings and descriptions bring his world to life. Being a geography nerd, I love maps political and natural. For anyone who may have a hard time with placing what and where these maps will make Middle Earth three dimensional.

This is a gorgeous bit of work: a slipcase with a hardcover book of information on the making of the maps and what they depict, and a book-cover type folder which contains the four maps, folded up but completely separate (so if you wanted to frame and mount them, that’d be possible). It’s a beautiful collection, and the book itself is gorgeous too. The type-set is the same as most copies of The Hobbit I’ve seen, which I liked, and the layout too. Various illustrations — sketches and full colour — are included, with Brian Sibley describing the events and locations on each of the four maps.

It’s not hugely informative if you’re familiar with the geography and history of Middle-earth, but looking at things laid out like this can be different, and it’s a gorgeous collection, too.

You could tell the author and illustrator are fond of the source material. Attached to this copy are 4 great maps - one of Middle-earth, of Wilderland (the eastern part of Middle-earth, more so focusing on BB's adventures), one of Beleriand (Western realm sunken after the First Age), and one of Numenor (Island-star sunken after the Second Age).

All in all, the book was nice, and I paid 32 euros for it - was it worth the money? I think so and so, considering I had bought 'The Silmarillion' and similar books within this hardback series for about 10 euros less. I guess here you have the four poster-maps, and I grant you they are of good quality and feel good in the hands, but was very sad when I saw a lack of bookmark ribbon that usually is found with these types of books. Nevertheless, this is a book for the die-hard Tolkien fans and happy to have it in my collection

Not worth the time. If you want a glossary of terms, get a book by David Day. I was hoping for the words of John Howe, and explanations and inspirations of his work, but only got about a singular page of that. Rather disappointing.

I'd say 3 of the 4 maps are beautiful enough to be frame-worthy while one map (Numenor) only suffers because there isn't a lot of detail from Tolkien's original written descriptions to work with. The text volume of material gathered by Brian Sibley is illuminating and brings to life the locals on the maps. This material is for Tolkien geeks like me and those loving artistic fictional maps.

Beautiful map for a beautifully created world!

Veľmi efektný knižný box obsahujúci 2 zväzky: prvým sú knižné dosky s poskladanými 4 farebnými mapami v spracovaní ilustrátora Johna Howa (mapa Divočiny – Wilderland – z Hobita, mapa Stredozeme v čase udalostí Pána prsteňov, mapa Beleriandu a mapa ostrova Númenor), každá s rozmerom 72 x 72 cm a druhým je sprievodné slovo Briana Sibleya ku každej z nich. Aj keď malo ísť zbierku máp, zažiadalo sa im dodať k nim sprievodný text, ktorý bol dosť obšírny, keďže obsahoval zhrnutia diel Hobita, Pána prsteňov a Silmarillionu (pre tých, čo čítali knihy pred rokmi a už si ich veľmi nepamätajú, to možno bude celkom užitočné pripomenutie). Okrem obsahového zhrnutia diel nájdete v knihe aj abecedný zoznam miest nachádzajúcich sa na jednotlivých mapách, tentokrát so stručnejším popisom.

Beautiful and huge maps. The perfect addition to my Tolkien collection. And a wonderful encyclopedia of the places.

A visually stunning and informative guide to Middle-earth. Fans of Tolkien’s world will treasure this detailed exploration of its geography and lore.

This is basically a collectors piece. It comes in a very thick cardboard sleeve and houses a hardcover slipcase for the 4 fold out maps by Howe. An 80 page book accompanies the maps written by Brain Sibley. Each section gives an overview of what occurred on each map, and gives a description of each map notation. This is a revised edition (or collector's edition as they call it, and also includes a map and description on Numenor. Not much new to learn from the book, but it is very well made, and the book is string bound. I'm quite happy to have this collector's piece accompany my Tolkien collection