Two original pen and ink illusrations for the Lord Of The Rings Colouring Book; one of Gandalf and Aragorn, the other of Beren and Luthien.
 
1. Gandalf And Aragorn. 295 x 218mm. Original pen and ink drawing. Titled in blue pencil to the upper margin, “Gandalf and Aragorn Find The White Tree”, and to the lower margin in calligraphic ink “Gandalf and Aragorn”.
 
2. Beren And Luthien. 295 x 218mm. Original pen and ink drawing. Titled in faded blue pencil to the upper margin “Tinuviel And Beren One Hand”, and in pencil to the reverse “Tinuviel and Beren”.
 
With:
3. An autograph letter signed by Alicia Austin, explaining the drawings and submitting them for publication.
 
4. A participant’s ticket for the Kaleidoscope Science Fiction And Fantasy Art Show for July 3rd-6th 1969.
 
Two original drawings of incredibly emotive scenes from the history of Middle-earth.
The first depicts Gandalf and Aragorn discovering the sapling of the White Tree of Gondor. At the end of The Return Of The King, the original White Tree at Minas Tirith had withered, and so Aragorn was taken by Gandalf to a hallow on the slopes of Mindolluin. There, Aragorn found a sapling of the White Tree. The dead tree was removed from the court and placed in the Houses of the Dead, and Aragorn planted the sapling in its place, restoring this great symbol of Gondor.
 
The second depicts Beren and Luthien, the subjects of the great love story of Middle-earth and the name names which accompany Tolkien’s and his wife Edith’s on the headstone they share in Oxford.
 
These two illustrations were used in The Lord of the Rings Coloring Book, compiled by Martha Elkin and published by the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) in 1972, making it likely that the accompanying note was sent directly to Elkin in her role as editor and compiler. The note can be dated by its reference to Locus, the fanzine Elkin (then Martha Brown) co-edited with her husband Charles N. Brown.
 
Following their divorce in 1969, she was no longer associated with the publication, likely placing the note no later than that year.
 
The drawings appear to date from the very beginning of Alicia Austin’s professional career. Austin would go on to become a major figure in science fiction and fantasy illustration, working with writers such as Ursula Le Guin, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, C. L. Moore, George Barr and George R. R. Martin. She won several awards including a Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 1971. At the 1969 World Science Fiction Convention in St. Louis, just weeks after the Kaleidoscope Art exhibition in Santa Monica, Austin sold every illustration she entered jumpstarting her professional career as a paid artist. These illustrations belong to that formative moment, just before her career took flight.