J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 80 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Verlyn Flieger is a Professor of English at the University of Maryland and is a specialist in comparative mythology with a concentration in J.R.R. Tolkien. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Celtic, Arthurian, Hindu, Native American, and Norse myth.

Pauline Baynes was a British illustrator renowned for her work on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. J.R.R. Tolkien admired her work so much that she was invited to illustrate first his Farmer Giles of Ham and then The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Her work spanned 60 years, and in 1968 she won the Kate Greenaway Medal. In 1999 she drew a map of the Little Kingdom for the 50th anniversary edition of Farmer Giles of Ham. Pauline Baynes died in 2008.