People have fallen in love with beautiful Welsh Lord of the Rings map

A map of Wales in the style of Tolkien's Middle Earth illustrations has proved to be a best seller online.

So popular have they become that Joshua Tabti - the artist who created the beautifully drawn Lord of the Rings inspired maps, has had to restock his online shop due to huge demand.

Sold through global online marketplace platform Etsy, the maps are flying out.

Lord of the Rings and Hobbit author J.R.R. Tolkien stated that he began with maps and developed his plots from them, but that he also wanted his maps to be picturesque.

Tolkien's maps, depicting his fictional Middle Earth, helped him with plot development, guided the reader through his often complex stories, and contributed to the impression of depth in his writings.

Now illustrator Joshua has taken up the idea by illustrating Wales and various other locations in the style of those original Tolkien maps.

Tolkien had close ties to Wales and loved the Welsh language which inspired the Elvish language in his books. He said of Welsh: "Welsh is of this soil, this island, the senior language of the men of Britain; and Welsh is beautiful.'

The map of Wales is illustrated in Welsh and took the artist sometime to complete.

"It was just as fun to research the land cover and different historical towns as it was to draw," he said. "I think it took about 30 hours although I lost track!"

Since publishing the maps Welsh speakers have been helping Joshua update his maps with place names.

One site user pointed out that there was a problem with one of the town names.

They wrote: 'As someone from there, Crucywel is incorrect. Crickhowell in Welsh is Crughywel. Crucywel was used on a road signs recently and incorrect, locals hate it.'

'That's great help thank you,' replied Joshua. 'I had used Wikipedia pages for Welsh spelling of towns so that's a good thing to know! I'll edit it in'

The artist describes his maps as: 'Hand drawn cartography inspired by Tolkien's map of Middle Earth featured in the books The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

'Maps are illustrated and annotated with calligraphy using traditional dip pen and ink, following meticulous research into land cover, terrain and landmarks to create a geographically accurate survey.'

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They've proved phenomenally popular with glowing feedback from customers.

One customer wrote: 'I bought this for my husband for Christmas and he absolutely loved it! The print quality is excellent and the details are beautiful. Can't wait to get it framed and put up!'

Another wrote: 'This was bought as a gift for someone special and they absolutely loved it! Great quality and arrived very quickly.

While one customer added: 'Incredible attention to detail. Beautiful print.'

Purchase the Tolkien Wales/Cymru maps HERE