111 From a letter to Sir Stanley Unwin

21 September 1947

I wrote to you on the last day of July, but I put the letter aside, as it seemed too much of a pother about my works. ....

Hyde (or Jekyll) has had to have his way, and I have been obliged to devote myself mainly to philology, especially as my colleague from Liege, with whom I had been embarking on 'research' before the war, was staying here to help to get our work ready for press.

Now I am about to go off again for a few days on college business. It is my turn to go with the Warden and Bursar to inspect estates in Cambridge and Lincolnshire. So rather than leave your letter of July 28 unanswered any longer, I send along herewith my original and now rather tattered answer. With it I send Rayner's comments; also some notes on The Hobbit; and (for the possible amusement of yourself and Rayner) a specimen of re-writing of Chapter V of that work, which would simplify, though not necessarily improve, my present task.

I have tried unsuccessfully to squeeze in, in the intervals of 'research' and journeys, some revision of Book II of The Lord of the Rings. But, as I should like very much to benefit by Rayner's reading (and yours, if you have any time), I send it along under separate cover, with its many defects of detail. But Rayner may note, if he has time to bother with this packet, that Chapter XIV has been re-written, to match the re-writing or Chapter II 'Ancient History' which he has read. Chapter II is now called 'The Shadow of the Past' and most of its 'historical' material has been cut out, while a little more attention is paid to Gollum. So that if XIV seems repetitive, it is not actually so; practically nothing now in XIV will appear in II.

I send also the preliminary chapter of Foreword to the whole: 'Concerning Hobbits', which acts as a link to the earlier book and at the same time answers questions that have been asked.