Digital Art Live invites you for an artist’s meetup at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, where precious artefacts linked with J.R.R. Tolkien will be on display.

The creative genius of The Lord of the Rings author will be the focus of a major new exhibition at the Bodleian’s Weston Library and we think with the fantasy artwork on display, will be a perfect opportunity for an artists’ meetup.

The University of Oxford library houses the largest collection of original Tolkien manuscripts in the world and the exhibition “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” will explore the power of the author’s literary imagination.

Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden said: “We are delighted to be hosting this unparalleled exhibition of Tolkien materials that will take visitors beyond what they know of Tolkien from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and introduce them to his extraordinary repertoire of work as an artist, poet and scholar.”

“The exhibition will reunite fascinating works from the Bodleian’s foremost Tolkien archive with items from the United States and private collections, bringing them together in the city where Tolkien wrote his most famous works.”

The exhibition features:-

• Original manuscripts of The Lord of The Rings along with dust jacket designs and beautiful watercolours
• Original manuscripts of The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s very earliest work on the legendarium of the elves, which was unfinished during his lifetime and was published posthumously by his son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien
• Photos and letters from Tolkien’s childhood and student days, exploring themes of love, loss and war
• Letters of appreciation from a wide range of admirers including poet W.H. Auden, singer Joni Mitchell and author Iris Murdoch
• Personal objects that belonged to Tolkien including his art materials (boxes of paints, coloured pencils and sealing wax) and books from his personal library
• A selection of Middle-earth maps including a rare map annotated by Tolkien, which was acquired by the Bodleian in 2016
• A specially-commissioned 3-D map of Middle-earth

Our Schedule

11:30 am

Meet outside the venue of the entrance of the New Bodleian (Weston) Library. We will carry seven spare printed tickets for entry at 1pm. Don’t rely on our own tickets though, we recommend to first try and book your own personal 1pm or 1:30pm tickets.

11:50 am

Go for a quick light lunch and chat at one of the nearby cafes, or inside the venue if they have a suitable cafe (purchase your own snack and drinks)

12:50 pm 

We assemble at the exhibition entrance ready to start our 1pm tour of the Tolkien exhibition. We’re anticipating the full appreciation of the exhibition will be about an hour or more.

2:30 pm

Informal break

3:00pm

We’ll try to book a 3:30pm group tour of Exeter college, Tolkien’s ancient Oxford college (in Turl street)

5:30pm

Depart for train station (half a mile walk from the venues)