Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien Ltd. The earliest illustrations of Tolkien's works were drawn by the author himself. In 1937, "The Hobbit" was first illustrated by professional draughtsmen for the American edition. Tolkien was very critical of these, and in 1946 he rejected illustrations by Horus Engels for the German edition of the "Hobbit" as "too 'Disnified'". Milein Cosman illustrated "Farmer Giles of Ham" in 1948, and Tolkien was not happy with this work, either. In 1949, Cosman was replaced by Pauline Baynes, who became Tolkien's favourite illustrator and who created drawings for "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" as well as for "Farmer Giles of
J. R. R. Tolkien children, came in 1936 to the attention of Susan Dagnall, an employee of the London publishing firm George Allen & Unwin, who persuaded Tolkien to submit it for publication. When it was published a year later, the book attracted adult readers as well as children, and it became popular enough for the publishers to ask Tolkien to produce a sequel. The request for a sequel prompted Tolkien to begin what would become his most famous work: the epic novel "The Lord of the Rings" (originally published in three volumes 1954–1955). Tolkien spent more than ten years writing the primary narrative