"Maps of All Things Narnian" Topic

"This is the best map of Narnia on the Internet.

It was created by Pauline Baynes, the original illustrator of the Narnian Tales"

link

From main page
link

Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand

The images on the site are too small to really appreciate, but one can find larger examples with a little searching.

Pauline Baynes was for me one of the primary reasons that Middle Earth came alive.Not wishing to hijack, but here are her Fellowship and Hobbit maps.

She had such lovely fantasy images and because, I believe they were not tied into TV of Film they will exist for a very long time. In a sense they will never date. Thanks for the post. One of the un-sung greats.

It has been so long since I had seen the Tolkien maps that I had never realized they were from the same person. Thanks for posting those!

David

Whoa….those take me back. Used to have all three of those maps in my room as a kid. I had the Narnia and Middle Earth posters next to each other and half expected them to be part of the same continent. I could almost imagine Aslan kicking the stuffing out of the Dark Lord. (Note: Imagined before I finished LOTR.) Hmmmmm – That might actually be a good game

Wonderful maps. Lots of memories…

YouTube link

Ha!

Beautiful maps!

From Wikipedia.

Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 – 1 August 2008) was an English illustrator whose work encompassed more than 100 books, notably those by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

<snip>
Baynes was born in Hove, Sussex. For a few years she was raised in India where her father was commissioner in Agra, but she and her elder sister came to England for their schooling. She spent much of her childhood in Farnham [3] and eventually attended the Slade School of Fine Art, but after a year volunteered to work for the Ministry of Defence, where she made demonstration models for instruction courses.[4] This work did not last long; she was soon transferred to a map-making department where she acquired skills later employed to good effect when she drew maps of Narnia for Lewis and of Middle-earth for Tolkien.

Baynes is probably best known for her cover and interior illustrations of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in one volume annually from 1950 to 1956. Years later she provided some new illustrations for The Land of Narnia: Brian Sibley Explores the World of C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 1998), by Brian Sibley. (According to a School Library Journal review, "the artwork includes full-page illustrations in glowing color".)[5]

Back to me: While I prefer Karen Wynn Fonstad's work (but I went to college to become a Cartographer so I suspect I am biased) Ms. Baynes seems to have set a high standard for others.

While I prefer Karen Wynn Fonstad's work (but I went to college to become a Cartographer so I suspect I am biased) Ms. Baynes seems to have set a high standard for others.

I almost consider their styles two totally different breeds so I enjoy them equally. KWF set the standard for the fantasy atlas. Baynes' work is more of a portrait, if you will, and equally, if differently, lovely.