St. Clair, Gloriana. "Tolkien's Cauldron: Northern Literature and The Lord of the Rings". Carnegie Mellon . Retrieved 9 July 2008. Another influence from Old English sources is the appearance of named blades of renown, adorned with runes. In using his elf-blade Bilbo finally takes his first independent heroic action. By his naming the blade " Sting" we see Bilbo's acceptance of the kinds of cultural and linguistic practices found in Beowulf, signifying his entrance into the ancient world in which he found himself. [39] This progression culminates in Bilbo stealing a cup from the dragon's hoard, rousing him to wrath—an incident directly mirroring Beowulf and an action entirely determined by traditional narrative patterns. As Tolkien wrote, "The episode of the theft arose naturally (and almost inevitably) from the circumstances. It is difficult to think of any other way of conducting the story at this point. I fancy the author of Beowulf would say much the same." [34] The name of the wizard Radagast is taken from the name of the Slavic deity Radogost. [40] Chance compares the development and growth of Bilbo against other characters to the concepts of just kingship versus sinful kingship derived from the Ancrene Wisse (which Tolkien had written on in 1929), and a Christian understanding of Beowulf, a text that influenced Tolkien's writing. [100] Shippey comments that Bilbo is nothing like a king, and that Chance's talk of "types" just muddies the waters, though he agrees with her that there are "self-images of Tolkien" throughout his fiction; and she is right, too, in seeing Middle-earth as a balance between creativity and scholarship, "Germanic past and Christian present". [101]

Tony Di Terlizzi. ‘The Hobbit’ illustrated by Maurice Sendak? The 1960s masterpiece that could have been. Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull. The J.R.R. Tolkien companion and guide. Vol. 1, Chronology, p. 560 ff.; Vol. 2, Reader’s Guide, p. 561.Having idly come up with the idea of a creature living in a hill, Tolkien found himself needing a world and a story to put him in and so Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf and the first pieces of the Middle Earth puzzle were realised in The Hobbit. A modest success, several critics dismissed the book, with one commenting,‘this is not a work which many adults will read through more than once,’ - a view he was perhaps later forced to concede that was somewhat short-sighted. a b Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. p.41. ISBN 978-0-261-10401-3.

While I was gathering material for this post and found the LotR Plaza original post by Hammond as well as mentions of the kerfuffle and RPG art on Rateliff’s blog, Jason Fisher adding a lovely anecdote in which George MacDonald played a huge part – a great source of inspiration to both Tolkien and Sendak – I also found this in Peter C. Kunze’s Conversations with Maurice Sendak: Martin, Ann (2006). Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Bed: Modernism's Fairy Tales. University of Toronto Press. p.38. ISBN 978-0-8020-9086-7. ... —prefigure the bourgeois preoccupations of J. R. R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

‘Speak friend and enter.’

For the first time ever, a special enhanced edition of the enchanting prelude to The Lord of the Rings, illustrated throughout with over 50 sketches, drawings, paintings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien himself [20 b/w, 36 col illus] and with the complete text printed in two colours.

Matt ‘I’m still writing for Collider and it hasn’t gotten any better’ Goldberg managed to add two illustrations, claiming them to be by Sendak when the second one is Bilbo at Bag End – by Tolkien. Ah, well. Tolkien's use of descriptive names such as Misty Mountains and Bag End echoes the names used in Old Norse sagas. [30] The names of the dwarf-friendly ravens, such as Roäc, are derived from the Old Norse words for "raven" and "rook", [31] but their peaceful characters are unlike the typical carrion birds from Old Norse and Old English literature. [32] Tolkien is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: the juxtaposition of old and new styles of expression is seen by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as one of the major themes explored in The Hobbit. [33] Maps figure in both saga literature and The Hobbit. [30] Several of the author's illustrations incorporate Anglo-Saxon runes, an English adaptation of the Germanic runic alphabets. Carpenter, Humphrey (23 November 2003). "Review: Cover book: Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth". The Sunday Times.Hooker, Mark (2014). The Tolkienaeum: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien and his Legendarium. Llyfrawr. pp.1–12. ISBN 978-1-49975-910-5.