Pauline Baynes

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Pauline Baynes
Biographical information
Born	September 9, 1922
Died	August 2, 2008
Images	Gallery
Location	England

"[A] great talent for producing vivid and believable pictures while touching them with a delightful air of fantasy which is largely imported by her fluid and dexterous line."

― J.R.R. Tolkien

Pauline Diana Gasch, née Baynes (September 9, 1922 - August 2, 2008) was an English book illustrator, whose work encompasses more than 100 books. Though her early years were spent in India, where her father was commissioner in Agra, she and her elder sister came to England for their schooling. Baynes attended the Slade School of Fine Art, but after a year she volunteered to work for the Ministry of Defence, painting camouflage, though she was soon transferred to a map-making department (knowledge of which she later employed to good effect when she drew maps of Narnia for C.S. Lewis and of Middle-earth for J.R.R. Tolkien).

Baynes was J.R.R. Tolkien's chosen illustrator. In 1949, she illustrated Farmer Giles of Ham, followed by cover art for the 1961 Puffin edition of The Hobbit and a triptych for the slip-case of the 1964 deluxe edition of The Lord of the Rings. In 1962, she illustrated The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and in 1967, Smith of Wootton Major. Before Tolkien's death, she also illustrated two posters: "A Map of Middle-earth" (1970) and "There and Back Again" (based on The Hobbit, 1971). After Tolkien's death, she provided illustrations for the poem Bilbo's Last Song (as a poster in 1974, as a book in 1990) and the collection Poems and Stories (1980). She also painted the covers for the British 1973 one-volume and 1981 three-volume paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings. The final published appearance of Baynes' Tolkien art was the addition of her map of "The Little Kingdom" to the fiftieth anniversary edition of Farmer Giles of Ham (1999).

See also

• Images by Pauline Baynes

External links

• Pauline Baynes at Wikipedia
• PaulineBaynes.com (tribute site maintained by Brian Sibley)
• The woman who drew Narnia by Charlotte Cory
• Pauline Baynes' 'There and Back Again': Some Notes by Morgan Thomsen
• Obituary at The Guardian.com
• Obituary at The Independent.co.uk
• Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull announce Pauline Baynes death to the Mythopoeic Society, 2 August 2008
• A Rememberance by Martin Springett

References

Illustrators of The Lord of the Rings
Internal art	J.R.R. Tolkien (1937-present) · Eric Fraser/Ingahild Grathmer (The Folio Society: 1979, 1992-present) · Alan Lee (1997-present)
Cover art only	J.R.R. Tolkien (1937-present) · Pauline Baynes (1970-1989) · Roger Garland (1983-1991) · John Howe (1991-present) · Ted Nasmith (1990) · Geoff Taylor (1999)

Illustrators of official Tolkien calendars

Emily Austin (2023) · Pauline Baynes (1973, 1974) · Cor Blok (2011, 2012) · Jemima Catlin (2014) · Jenny Dolfen (2023) · Inger Edelfeldt (1985) · Mary Fairburn (2015) · Roger Garland (1984, 1987, 1988, 1989) · Spiros Gelekas (2023) · Justin Gerard (2023) · Donato Giancola (2023) · Michael Hague (1986) · The Brothers Hildebrandt (1976 US, 1977 US, 1978 US) · John Howe (1987, 1988, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2013, 2021) · Tove Jansson (2016) · Michael Kaluta (1994) · Tim Kirk (1975) · Alan Lee (1987, 1993, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024) · Ted Nasmith (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2021, 2022) · Kip Rasmussen (2023) · Darrell Sweet (1982) · J.R.R. Tolkien (1973, 1974, 1976 UK, 1977 UK, 1978 UK, 1979, 2005, 2006, 2017)