148 From a letter to Katherine Farrer

[The first volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, was published on 29 July 1954.]

7 August 1954

I am afraid there are still a number of 'misprints' in Vol. I! Including the one on p. 166. But nasturtians is deliberate, and represents a final triumph over the high-handed printers. Jarrold's appear to have a highly educated pedant as a chief proof-reader, and they started correcting my English without reference to me: elfin for elven; farther tor further; try to say for try and say and so on. I was put to the trouble of proving to him his own ignorance, as well as rebuking his impertinence. So, though I do not much care, I dug my toes in about nasturtians. I have always said this. It seems to be a natural anglicization that started soon after the 'Indian Cress' was naturalized (from Peru, I think) in the 18th century; but it remains a minority usage. I prefer it because nasturtium is, as it were, bogusly botanical, and falsely learned.

I consulted the college gardener to this effect: 'What do you call these things, gardener?'

'I calls them tropaeolum, sir.'

'But, when you're just talking to dons?'

'I says nasturtians, sir.'

'Not nasturtium?'

'No, sir; that's watercress.' And that seems to be the fact of botanical nomenclature. ....

It has been (and continues to be) a crushingly laborious year! So many things at once, each needing exclusive attention. They are clamouring for Gawain. (It is being repeated next month.) And I am struggling to select from all the mass of private stuff about the languages, scripts, calendars and history of the Third Age, what may prove interesting to those who like that sort of thing, and will go into the space (about 40 pages). Time runs on; for I have to go to Ireland again about mid-Sept. and then on to Belgium, and then it will be term. ....