Apparently, while we were growing up with Brothers Hildebrandt as the measuring stick for Tolkien illustrations, the Russian edition had these illustrations:
(Again, I won't violate copyright by reposting the pictures themselves.)
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739410808/my-childhood-russian-edition-of-lord-of-the-rings
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739549878/quasi-medieval-tolkien-illustrations-by-sergey
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739762858/quasi-medieval-tolkien-illustrations-by-sergey
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/87223083158/more-sergey-yuhimovs-lotr-illustrations-slightly
Same artist, different post, with some pictures not in the previous series:
http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/2281209/post116167073
I think the Russians got the better deal.
There are two pictures in the last post that can't place which scene they refer to.
• small figure walking down a long red, torch-lit hallway
• a dark lake with the broken pillar
Anyone have any guesses about those?
http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/0//51/860/51860936_IMG_2355.JPG - this is sam walking alone in the mordor on his way to rescue frodo; the use of floor tiles to depict mordor is one of the author's favorite tricks (and anybody who ever visited any soviet medical institution will shudder and sympathetic horror and applaud).
ReplyDeletei think the second one is meant as a illustration of lake near moria gates, but i can be wrong.