A REMARKABLE map of JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth annotated by the author himself has found a permanent home at the Bodleian Libraries.

The map, originally a working document that Tolkien and illustrator Pauline Baynes created in 1969, featured at the back of the first two editions of The Lord of the Rings.

It includes copious notes and markings from the canonical author in green ink and pencil.

Most notably his comments equate places in the fantasy realm of Middle-earth with real world cities, including: "Hobbiton is assumed to be approx. at latitude of Oxford".

The map went unseen for decades until October 2015, when Blackwell's in Broad Street put it on display and offered it for sale in its Rare Books section.

After a wave of excitement among fans and collectors, it was decided that the rare piece of ephemera would remain in Oxford under the care of the Bodleian Libraries.

Keeper of special collections Chris Fletcher said: "The creation of maps was central to Tolkien’s storytelling and this particular map provides a glimpse into the creative process that produced some of the first images of Middle-earth, with which so many of us are now familiar.

"We're delighted to have been able to acquire this map and it’s particularly appropriate that we are keeping it in Oxford. Tolkien spent almost the whole of his adult life in the city and was clearly thinking about its geographical significance as he composed elements of the map. It would have been disappointing had it disappeared into a private collection or gone abroad."

It is hoped that the map will be put on public display in the near future.