I strongly suggest you disregard advice to buy ANY book by David Day. They are not accurate, and are full of stuff he just makes up. Day is the laughingstock of the fandom; he's even been banned by the Tolkien Society from attending their future events.

But don't worry, there's lots of good-quality stuff out there for your husband to treasure!

If he has read only The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, look for an attractive edition of The Silmarillion (there are many). This is the great backstory to Lord of the Rings, the legendary past that constantly gets referred to in LOTR. If he hasn't read it yet, that's the Next Big Step for a Tolkien fan.

If he's already read the Silmarillion, Check his shelf to see whether he already has a copy of Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth. If not, that's definitely a great gift for him or any Tolkien fan. "A book of maps" doesn't do it justice -- it's not just geography, but changes over time, populations, heroic journeys, and famous battles, all laid out in a way that keeps you turning the page in a way you wouldn't with a real-life atlas. The way the maps are presented also helps the reader visuallize the progression of the Ages of the World, even though there's not a dedicated timeline.

If he has both of these, go for a copy of Unfinished Tales, which contains extra material that didn't make it into the published LOTR and Silmarillion. He'll love the extras about the Palantiri and what Gandalf got up to while Bilbo and the Dwarves were making do without him.

If he has all that, you have choices to make. If he's graphic's oriented, he may like the John Howe decorative map set or the Alan Lee sketchbook or half a dozen options from artists who've tackled Tolkien. If he's a calendar guy, you can pick from at least that many popular options every year.

If he's a hardcore reader who has made it through the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and still wants more, he may want to take the deep dive into the 12-volume History of Middle-earth, which is very affordable now that it's in good-quality paperback. But you probably want to check with him on that before buying them all; some volumes are, well, pretty hardcore in their density, and some are best read sequentially. One that would be fine as a standalone is Vol. 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth. Lots of good lore and interesting things in that one.

https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Sketchbook-Alan-Lee/dp/0618640142/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-Sketchbook-Alan/dp/0618640142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341759975&sr=8-1&keywords=the+lord+of+the+ring+sketchbook

Alan Lee is one of my favorite artists ever. I've loved his work since I got a hold of the book him and Brian Froud did called Faeries ( http://www.amazon.com/Faeries-Deluxe-Collectors-Brian-Froud/dp/0810995867 ) Also does some of the most fantastic pencil drawings ive seen. I LOVE his pencil drawings, which is why I got this book ( http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Sketchbook-Alan-Lee/dp/0618640142 ) Highly recommend both of these.

For the first one I used a few images from Alan Lee's sketchbook, he's the conceptual artist for LOTR: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-Sketchbook-Alan/dp/0618640142

The second one is specifically his sketch of Minas Tirith: http://i.imgur.com/o57QkIx.jpg

Nice, looks like a great companion to Allan Lee's "The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook" Looks like this one isn't out until November. How did you get an early copy?

If you don't find what you're looking for, you might try The Lord Of The Rings Sketchbook by Alan Lee. There are lots of pages suitable for framing if you don't mind slicing them out of the book. (you could try to score a used copy)



(Amazon has the feature that lets you look at pages)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Lord-Rings/dp/0618510982

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-Sketchbook-Alan/dp/0618640142

I assumed people who were already familiar with the books wouldn't need links to further educate themselves about books they've already read.