--- title: Tolkien-Annotated Map of Middle Earth Discovered description: The rare document was found in an old copy of The Lord of the Rings in Blackwell's Rare Books in Oxford. canonical: https://time.com/4087650/tolkien-annotated-middle-earth-map-discovered/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-26T21:08:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:58.473Z og:title: A Tolkien-Annotated Map of Middle Earth Has Been Found og:description: The one map to rule them all og:url: https://time.com/4087650/tolkien-annotated-middle-earth-map-discovered/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06fad0889beab84d/6987806035ba6f48d1c07326/visual-effects-27.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: MCDLOOF EC167 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Tolkien-Annotated Map of Middle Earth Has Been Found twitter:description: The one map to rule them all twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06fad0889beab84d/6987806035ba6f48d1c07326/visual-effects-27.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A J.R.R. Tolkien-Annotated Map of Middle Earth Has Been Discovered ## Video: The Top 5 Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Masterpieces [Watch (HLS stream): The Top 5 Underrated Sci-Fi Movie Masterpieces](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xe99vdU4.m3u8) (4:45)  _Published 2010-01-11. Steven James Snyder, Techland's resident movie geek, outlines the top 5 most under-rated sci-fi movies of all time_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 26, 2015 9:08 PM UTC  2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingWarner Bros.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 26, 2015 9:08 PM UTC In news that requires a bigger celebration than Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday, a map of Middle Earth annotated by J.R.R. Tolkien himself was recently discovered. The rare document was found in an old copy of _The Lord of the Rings_ in [Blackwell’s Rare Books](https://twitter.com/blackwellrare?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) in Oxford. According to [_The_ _Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/23/jrr-tolkien-middle-earth-annotated-map-blackwells-lord-of-the-rings)_,_ the copy belonged to renowned illustrator Pauline Baynes, who collaborated with Tolkien on a color map of Middle-earth that was published in 1970\. Blackwell’s, which is selling the map for £60,000 ($92,118), said the document is “perhaps the finest piece of Tolkien ephemera to emerge in the last 20 years at least.” Heavily annotated, the map demonstrates how painstakingly particular Tolkien was about the details of his imagined world, and offers new insight into the background of Middle Earth. “The map shows how completely obsessed he was with the details. Anyone else interfered at their peril,” Sian Wainwright at Blackwell’s told _The Guardian_. “He was tricky to work with, but very rewarding in the end.” The author notes that Hobbiton “is assumed to be approx at latitude of Oxford,” and, according to Blackwell’s, implies that “the city of Ravenna \[in Italy\] is the inspiration behind Minas Tirith – a key location in the third book of the _Lord of The Rings_ trilogy.” And if this wasn’t already exciting enough for LOTR fans, now Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the series’ movie adaptation, has taken to social media to tweet about the news. > [](https://twitter.com/IanMcKellen/status/658633695545327618) This map is truly _preciousssss._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4087650/tolkien-annotated-middle-earth-map-discovered/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4087650/tolkien-annotated-middle-earth-map-discovered/"},"headline":"A J.R.R. 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