Book excerpt: Writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley is a foremost expert on The Lord of the Rings (he adapted the novel for the award-winning BBC radio dramatisation in 1980), and here in this clothbound hardback he will take you to the First Age of Middle-earth, many thousands of years before the events chronicled in The Lord of the Rings. This was the setting for the great War of the Jewels, as recounted in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and includes a gazetteer of the many places shown on the full-colour illustrated map which accompanies the book. The Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North is faithfully reproduced in full colour by world-renowned Tolkien artist John Howe, the conceptual artist employed by Peter Jackson to work on his multi-award winning Lord of The Rings film trilogy, and who is soon to work on Guillermo del Toro's Hobbit film. The map is based on the original map by Christopher Tolkien. Embellished with heraldic emblems and dramatic scenes from The Silmarillion, it completes the trio of authorized Tolkien maps by John Howe which can be removed for reference or even for framing. Each element in this collector's package is special; together they provide an enchanting and desirable artefact that will be a prized possession of Tolkien readers of all ages.