Renowned fantasy illustrator James A. Owen presents fifteen intricate and imaginative line drawings inspired by the works of Oxford’s famous Inklings and Diana Glyer’s fascinating Bandersnatch.

Printed on heavy stock on one side only, each drawing is suitable for markers, fine-tipped pens, and colored pencils. Color your way through The Eagle and Child pub, along the banks of the Isis, beneath the spires of Magdalene College—and find (and color!) the bandersnatch hidden in each picture.

C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other Inklings met each week to read and discuss each other’s works-in-progress, offering both encouragement and blistering critique. How did these conversations shape the books they were writing? How does creative collaboration enhance individual talent? And what can we learn from their example?

With the box office successes of movies based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, familiarity with J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is growing. Unfortunately, scholarship dealing with Middle-Earth itself is comparatively rare in Tolkien studies, and students and scholars seeking greater insight have few resources. Similarly, although public concern for the environment is widespread and “going green” has never been trendier, ecocriticism is also an underserved area of literary studies. Arda Inhabited fills a gap in both areas by combining ecocritical and broader postmodern concerns with the growing appreciation for Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.