Weathertop (journal)

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The name Weathertop refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Weathertop (disambiguation).
Weathertop
Weathertop 1 cover.jpg
Latest editor: Denis Bridoux
Latest Issue: Issue #5, 1987
Publication Information
Publisher: Amon Sûl Smial
Released: Winter 1984-85 to Autumn 1987
Frequency: Quarterly
Pages: 20-30 average
ISSN: 0950-3757

Weathertop was the journal of the Amon Sûl Smial, affiliated to the Tolkien Society. Five issues were published before its editor moved to Mallorn.

The idea of Weathertop them came to Denis Bridoux and Kay Woollard (Dora Baggins), co-founders of Amon Sûl Smial, on the journey back from Oxonmoot 1984. In the early '80s, many smials started producing their own magazines, and neither were very impressed by the quality of what was on offer at the time.

From the beginning, Amon Sûl Smial had always attracted people with artistic leanings, and it still does. Producing a magazine would give them an opportunity to show what they could do and all the members were quite enthusiastic. For smial members, ‘amateur’ was definitely not synonymous with amateurish or poor quality It was agreed that, if they were to produce a magazine themselves one day, it would have to look good, and to give equal importance to text and to artwork.

Over a 3 year period, Weathertop was released around the time of Oxonmoot and/or the Tolkien Society’s Annual General Meeting. The magazine received good feedback for as long as it ran.

File:63823c6e.jpg
Feedback received

Sadly the magazine ran only for 5 issues, as it prepared Denis Bridoux to propose editing Mallorn when its then-editor, expressed the desire to stop producing it. He took its editorship over from issues 23 to 27, until a change of job led him to pass it on himself.

Presentation in first issue

Weathertop is the magazine of Amon Sûl Smial and is published quaterly. It does not pose itself as a rival so Society magazines, but rather as a complement to them and a potential source for their material. Any copyright, whether of text or artwork resides solely with the contributors. However, by arrangement with the Editors, any article or artwork can be reproduced within the original magazines of the Tolkien Society and the York Shire Post, provided that their setting be not altered, ex.: Quoting a sentence or paragraph without reference to context, or abnormal reduction of artwork entailing a lowering of quality.