Merritt holds a pitchfork: "Ready for the Critics"!
Happy holidays.
"Denizens of the archives have driven themselves into sweet oblivion by pursuing false leads down cold trails to dead ends, by amassing bulging but frequently useless dossiers, and by probing dull monographs . . . yet sometimes there comes a great notion." "A Shiver in the Archives" by Gale E. Christianson
Roger Dean (b. 1944) is a British artist perhaps best known for his album covers, especially those for the band Yes. I knew that he did at least one Tolkien-related illustration, a painting of Gollum, done at the suggestion of a friend. It's a bit dark (in appears in Views, published in 1975), but I rather like it.