East of the Moon, west of the Sun
There stands a lonely hill;
Its feet are in the pale green sea,
Its towers are white and still,
Beyond Taniquetil
In Valinor.
-From Tolkien's "The Shores of Faery" - one of the oldest poems about Tolkien's mythology, written in 1915.
I had the honor and privilege of being invited to the private press viewing of the "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City this past January. After entering the Hobbit-hole themed door of the exhibit I was initially struck with Tolkien's watercolor "The Shores of Faery", and indeed upon seeing it I felt transported beyond Taniquetil. Something about the image made me feel like I was briefly walking on that 'moonlit pebbled strand..."; hence my first post from that visit to LMB facebook announcing that I had reached "The Shores of Faerie".
I have always been partial to spelling it 'Faerie' instead of 'Fairy' or 'Faery" as I did for my song "King of the Faeries" years ago...
Using the alternate or archaic spellings seems to somehow imply a wee more dread and fell nature of the Otherworld. But I digress...