Yeah, I have one of these on a bedside table. That said, I can’t claim I knew Tolkien himself painted it so clearly I do know little.

The post is from 2011, so i would expect them to have entered much wider circulation now.

These illustrations were used in the first edition in 1937. My edition is from 1992. I don't think frequency of use has changed at all.

In that case I guess that the images in the article aren't the 'never before seen' (in 2011) ones that are meant to have been included in the publicised book.

In fact I didn't know that book existed, added to my wish list XD