Tolkien worked for many years on the book, using a hand-drawn map of the whole of the north-west of Middle-earth on squared (not graph) paper, each 2cm square representing 100 miles. The maps are a large drawing of the north-west part of Middle-earth, showing mountains as if seen in three dimensions, and coasts with multiple waterlines a more detailed drawing of 'A Part of the Shire' and a contour map by Christopher Tolkien of parts of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor, very different in style. The Lord of the Rings contains three maps and over 600 placenames. The city of Minas Tirith (lower left) with its large encircling wall (the Rammas Echor) and the ruined city of Osgiliath astride the River Anduin nearby are shown. The Lord of the Rings ĭetail of finished contour map by Christopher Tolkien, drawn from his father's graph paper design. This line represented the printed delineation of the margin of the school paper, which came with the printed instruction 'Do not write in this margin'. Both maps have a heavy vertical line not far from the left-hand side, the one on the map of Wilderland marked 'Edge of the Wild'. The map is overprinted with placenames in red. Mirkwood is shown as a mixture of closely packed tree symbols, spiders and their webs, hills, lakes, and villages. The Misty Mountains are drawn in three dimensions. The other is a drawing of ' Wilderland', from Rivendell in the west to the Lonely Mountain and Smaug the dragon in the east. The first is Thror's map, in the fiction handed down to Thorin, showing little but the Lonely Mountain drawn in outline with ridgelines and entrances, and parts of two rivers, decorated with a spider and its web, English labels and arrows, and two texts written in runes. In the view of the Tolkien critic Tom Shippey, the maps are largely decorative in the 'Here be tygers' tradition, adding nothing to the story. The Hobbit contains two simple maps and only around 50 placenames. Further information: Tolkien's artwork The Hobbit

Middle earth map