BILD LEPORELLO ZU J. R. R. TOLKIEN "DER HERR DER RINGE". [Picture Leporello for J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings"].

First edition, first printing. Accordion fold bound booklet comprising eight sheets of heavy paper, each printed to one side with a captioned and coloured pencil drawing by Bernhard Oberdieck illustrating J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. 13.5 x 21.5cm. A very near fine copy, ever so lightly rubbed to the extremities, otherwise sound, bright and fresh. Rare.

The first published illustrations by the German artist Bernhard Oberdieck, created as an examination work as a student at Bielefeld Werkkunstschule in 1974. In addition to being the artist's first publication, this also would appear to be one of the very first illustration series for the Lord of the Rings published in book form worldwide. The scarceness of published Lord of the Rings illustrations issued before the author's death in 1973 can be attributed to Tolkien's strong views on illustration of fantasy, especially in the case of his own works. In late 1974, Ballantine Books in the USA published the 'Tolkien Calender 1975', printed 12 illustrations by Tim Kirk, mainly of characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The publisher here, Ernst Klett was also the publisher of the first German translation of Tolkien's magnum opus in 1969 and 1970.