Atlas Of Middle-Earth Paperback – Illustrated, April 10, 1991

Karen Wynn Fonstad was an amazing cartographer, who loved the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s other works, and stayed true to his style and details provided in the narrative of the books.When I began reading my favorite book, LOTR, to my boyfriend, he wanted to follow along by looking at the map that came with the book. But he found that map hard to read and not detailed enough, so Fonstad’s “The Atlas of Middle Earth” was the answer and has been a great companion for following along with the story.

What a great book for map-loving Tolkien fans! Extensive, detailed maps, covering both large areas and smaller close-ups of places integral to the stories. All constructed using information collected from all of his books. Deeply researched & documented, nicely illustrated and explained.

I ordered this to accompany my readings of The Silmarillion, as turning to the small maps in the back of my copy was rather frustrating.It's far more detailed than anticipated. It covers locations described in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and of course The Lord of the Rings. But not only does it portray the locations, it details the paths traveled by various characters and groups, and even shows the movements of forces in Tolkien's many battles. For the most part, these are ordered chronologically, making it a great companion for a read-thru of any of Tolkien's works. Thematic maps, additional appendices, and indexes are included in the back.My paperback edition measures 8 inches wide and 11 high. The pages have a rougher, somewhat old-fashioned, texture, and a decent weight to them. Location labels vary in size, but are plentiful. The maps themselves are accompanied by summaries of related events and citations of Tolkien's descriptions where appropriate.My sole complaint is a lack of color- black, grey, brown and tan do look nice, but have their limits in some of the maps that attempt to describe climates and vegetation.Overall, it's clear Mrs. Fonstad put a great amount of effort and love into this atlas. A must-have for any Tolkien enthusiast.

If you're like me you've spent hours pouring over the very limited maps that are included in the original LOTR series trying to get a better idea of what Middle Earth looks like and have wished for an atlas. A few years ago I attempted to get through "The Children of Hurin" (very difficult) and "The Fall of Gondolin" (almost unreadable). My notes for each were "One finger in the Glossary at all times!" The only way I could get through these stories was with the glossary and a Tolkien dictionary which was in constant use and I really wish I had this atlas at the time.This atlas is FANTASTIC and is exactly what you want as companion especially when going through the 1st, 2nd ages which can be convoluted.The maps are easy to read and plentiful. While there is not a lot of color in the drawings there is enough to distinguish the differences in terrain without being distracting. This atlas was clearly designed for the avid reader and is meant as a reference to be used often and not a pretty coffee table book that's rarely opened. Case in point is the rather flimsy non glossy cover on the paperback edition which gives it a feel like a college text book companion. For about $15 it's an absolute steal! If your looking for a coffee table book, buy the hard cover edition.A few of the other reviewers talked about the font size and the the middle of some of the maps being in between pages. My eyes aren't what they used to be and I had no problem with the font size. There are a few maps that have important info in the crease which is annoying but definitely not a deal breaker.All in all I'm extremely pleased with this atlas and now feel confident in taking on the Silmarillion which I've been putting off for years!

Rating: 7.5/10I bought the Kindle version of this Lord of the Rings Atlas book thinking it would be a collection of detailed maps with some background on said maps. However, this book is actually a deep dive into the geography and how Tolkien created the Lord of the Rings Map along with how he went about world-building.The book does have some nice illustrations from Tolkien, but just didn't quite hit the mark with what I was hoping it would be. Aside from my own personal disappointment, the quality of the book is really good and does a great job at explaining how, and what inspired, Tolkien to create the map that fans of the series enjoy. The book also delves deep into the geographical traits of various Middle Earth locations and does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what Middle Earth would look like.Overall, I would say how much a reader would enjoy this book is dependent on 1.) Having a strong imagination, 2.) Enjoying intellectual books where you can learn about a subject, and/or 3.) Being a big fan of the LOTR/Tolkien Universe.From my perspective, I would recommend this book with a personal caveat of not expecting lots of maps.

I have been reading the works of Tolkien since the mid-'60's - this is the first really good, complete and accurate maps I have found. The content is chronologically ordered, with the Third Age by far the most complete. That makes sense because the LOTR is also the richest and most complete work by JRRT. The First and Second Age are in the book, but are less complete and detailed. Not to mention that the creation of the world itself was - almost by definition - hard to describe as the first inhabitants were spirits and the world itself was not complete.The table of distances and day-to-day tracking of the characters is very complete and I have to complete the author on her persistence.