135 From a letter to Rayner Unwin

[Rayner Unwin visited Tolkien at Oxford on 19 September, and the manuscript of The Lord of the Rings was given to him by Tolkien shortly afterwards. On 23 October, Rayner Unwin reported that, according to a printer's estimate, the book would have to be priced at £3.10s. (at least) in order to recover its costs, and that the price would be even higher if it were divided into two volumes. He had now sent the manuscript to another printer, and was waiting to hear if a cheaper estimate could be obtained.]

24 October 1952

I regret very much (in some ways) having produced such a monster in such unpropitious days; and I am very grateful to you for the trouble you are taking. But I hope very much that you will be able before very long to say 'yea' or 'nay'. Uncertainty is a great weight on the heart. The thing weighs on my mind, for I can neither dismiss it as a disaster and turn to other matters, nor get on with it and things concerned with it (such as the maps).

£3.10.0 (or more) would certainly be a very big price for any book, even today. Were you to contemplate publishing a monster at such a price, what number would you print? And how many must you sell to indemnify you, at the least? There are, of course, a larger number of people than might be supposed who are avid of such fare; they are usually delighted with length, and sometimes able to pay for it – esteeming one large book better than four small, and not surprised to find it 4 times as expensive as one small book. But I would not like to hazard a guess at their total numbers, or the chance of making contact with them!

I am at last after three weeks incessant labour of the most exacting and dreariest sort, getting into rather calmer water. I have shuffled off the Chairmanship of the Board, and concluded a number of tasks, and now, barring lecturing and teaching, have only to face (before preparation for Schools begins in February) examination of a tiresome thesis (on Fairy Tales!), reading and editing a monograph for a series, producing a contribution to 'Essays and Studies' by December 2nd, completing my edition of Ancrene Wisse, and writing the W. P. Ker Lecture for Glasgow. And also (if I can) finding somewhere else to live and moving! This charming house has become uninhabitable – unsleepable-in, unworkable-in, rocked, racked with noise, and drenched with fumes. Such is modern life. Mordor in our midst. And I regret to note that the billowing cloud recently pictured did not mark the fall of Barad-dur, but was produced by its allies – or at least by persons who have decided to use the Ring for their own (of course most excellent) purposes.