Robert Foster was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1949. As a teenager, he discovered The Lord of the Rings in his public library, and was an original member of the Tolkien Society of America. Foster's interest in etymology led him to compile a glossary of every name, place, object and event that appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which in 1966 appeared in the Tolkien fanzine, Niekas.

Ted Nasmith is a freelance illustrator living just outside Toronto, Canada, with his wife Donna and three children. The works of Tolkien have had a profound effect on him and he has enjoyed the challenge of interpreting the characters and world of Tolkien for over twenty years. He has produced several Tolkien Calendars and recently illustrated 'The Silmarillion'.