Tributes have poured for Christopher Tolkien – son of The Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien – who has died aged 95.

He will be fondly remembered by literary fans across the world for editing and publishing much of his father’s work after his death in 1973, and for drawing the original iconic maps of Middle-earth that decorated the trilogy of books released in the 1950s following the success of the prequel, The Hobbit.

Born on November 21, 1924, in Leeds, Mr Tolkien was the third and youngest son of Edith (nee Bratt) and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, professor of English language at the city’s university.

After his family moved to Oxford where the elder Tolkien took on a scholarly position, Christopher went to the Dragon School there, and later to the Oratory school in Caversham, Berkshire.

From a young age he was an editor and co-creator in making – he obsessed over mystical characters from his father’s tales and often pointed out inaccuracies and continuity mistakes when he listened to early drafts of The Hobbit.

After undertaking an abbreviated undergraduate course at Trinity College, Oxford, at 17, Christopher trained in 1944 until 1945 with the RAF in South Africa.

However, he remained closely involved in his father’s work, and delivered constructive critiques when the elderly Tolkien continued sending him chapters of Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor as they were written.

Following his return from the war Mr Tolkien joined the Lewis–Tolkien literary circle, the Inklings, taking over now-legendary readings of The Lord of the Rings at The Eagle and Child pub on St Giles, Oxford.

He then completed an English degree at Trinity College in 1949 and later followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a lecturer and tutor in English Language at New College, Oxford, from 1964 to 1975.

For nearly 50 years after his father’s death he edited and co-created works including The Silmarillion, The Children Of Hurin, and Beren And Luthien, which flesh out the complex world of elves and dwarves that Mr Tolkien was so fascinated with as a child.

He signed off his work as ‘CJRT’, going by his full name Christopher John Reuel Tolkien, in the same manner as his father.

The scholar was described as ‘a devoted curator of his father’s work’ and Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of HarperCollins UK which publishes much of JRR Tolkien’s work, said the ‘ongoing popularity of the world that JRR Tolkien created is a fitting testimony to the decades he spent bringing Middle-earth to generations of readers’.

For outstanding contribution to literature, in 2016 Mr Tolkien also received the Bodley medal.

Mr Tolkien, who moved to the French countryside in 1975, is survived by his second wife Baillie (née Klass) and their two children, Adam Reuel Tolkien and Rachel Clare Reuel Tolkien.

The author also leaves behind his eldest son – barrister and novelist Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien – from his first marriage to sculptor Faith Faulconbridge in 1951.

Though Mr Tolkien disowned him in the wake of a dispute surrounding the making of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, they reconciled prior to the author’s death.