The rare Irish linen tea towel of Baynes’s map for The Hobbit. Produced by Jonelle under licence from George Allen & Unwin. 765 x 510mm. Full colour map of Middle-earth by Pauline Baynes, ten vignettes of Middle-earth scenes, illustrated borders, decorative cartouche. A very good example.
 
The very rare tea towel issue of Pauline Baynes’s map of The Hobbit, There And Back Again.
 
Various theories have been posited as to who produced the tea towel, and why, with many collectors believing that it was produced by Tolkien’s publisher George Allen & Unwin for presentation to company employees.
 
Research by Tolkien’s bibliographer Wayne Hammond, however, has shown that was not the case:
 
“The towel was a commercial product, made by Jonelle and sold from the end of January 1973 exclusively by John Lewis, priced at 39 pence... Pauline Baynes retained ownership of the original art, but the copyright was conveyed to Allen & Unwin, who sub-licensed the towel and later a jigsaw puzzle with the same design.”
 
There is a John Lewis press release dated 22nd January 1973 which confirms this, reading:
 
“There and Back again... Readers of J R Tolkien's book 'The Hobbit' and its sequel, 'The Lord of the Rings' will now be able to follow the journey of the lovable Bilbo Baggins on our new Jonelle tea towel. Printed in bright clear colours on 100% Irish linen, the Hobbit tea towel shows the places Bilbo visited on his travels from his Hobbit hole in the Shire, through Rivendell and Mirkwood to the Lonely Mountain at Dale, illustrating some of the memorable incidents which occurred on the way. This interesting tea towel measures 20" x 30" and is available now at all branches of the John Lewis Partnership price 39p.”