A 'dot' over the tengwar 'd' in the picture of the Doors of Durin

Flammifer

Flammifer

Well-Known Member
Corey's slide seemed to show a possible 'dot' over the tengwar 'd' near the bottom of the picture. This was briefly discussed as possibly representing an 'i'.

In the printed early editions there is no sign of such a 'dot'. I consider that the 'dot' does not exist (should not exist), and is likely an artifact of the slide copying process, or the printing or reproduction of whatever edition Corey is using to produce the slide.

I do not think it is there in the original plate.
 
Here's the image from Tolkien Gateway:
J.R.R._Tolkien_-_Doors_of_Durin.jpg



So it's not just Corey Olsen's slides....
 
Zooming in on the Tolkien Gateway image is . . . um: ambiguous. If the dot truly exists, it is small, smaller than the width of the strokes.
1707842864333.png
The dots above the ä in Feänorian are darker, but not larger; however, these letters are also slightly smaller:
1707843266632.png
 
The Wikipedia version, which is white on black instead of black on white, also has the dot:

Doors_of_Durin.jpg


So I think it still an open question of when the dot arose, though apparently post-1965.
 
Further on when the 'dot' might have first appeared: The second edition (with revisions by JRRT) came out in 1966.

My earliest second edition (The first LOTR published in one volume) from 1968, does not have the dot.

I also have the India paper edition in one volume, published in 1969. This does have the dot.

So, it might be that the dot crept in between 1968 and 1969? It would be interesting to see what other later publication dates show?

I suspect the 'dot' was caused by some contamination of the plate which contained the image of the door, or some defect in the copying process.
 
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