THE LORD OF THE RINGS: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King.

Third printing with these illustrations. Original cream paper covered boards with red foil titles to the spines and motifs in red foil, silver and gilt on the upper boards, housed in a red slipcase with titles in gilt on the front and rear boards. Top edges red. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrated throughout in black and white by Margrethe II and Eric Fraser. A very near fine set, the bindings square and tight, the contents clean and bright throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. A few pages of The Fellowship of the Ring have small creases at the top corner. The slipcase has a couple of tiny bumps and some slight fading at the open edge. A lovely set.

This illustrations to this edition of Tolkien's masterpiece of fantasy fiction have an unusual history; they were created by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark while she was still Crown Princess. She sent her designs (under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer) to J. R. R. Tolkien who is said to have enjoyed them and noted their similarity to his own. They were eventually published in a Danish edition of 'The Lord of the Rings' after Margrethe had ascended the throne. For the Folio Society edition, the illustrations were re-drawn by Eric Fraser and first published in 1977.