Notes

[1] 1. A Shakespeare and L. L. H. Thompson of Exeter College. 2. Father Francis Morgan (1857-1934) of the Birmingham Oratory, the Catholic priest who became Tolkien's guardian after the death of his mother in 1904. 3. L. R. Farnell, Rector (i.e. head) of Exeter College, 1913-28. 4. Kenneth Sisam (1887-1971), who in 1914 was a research student and assistant to Professor A. S. Napier. He acted as Tolkien's tutor; see no. 318. 5. Thomas Wade Earp, then an undergraduate at Exeter College; he later became known as a writer on modern painters. See no. 83 for Tolkien's reference to him as 'T. W. Earp, the original twerp'; since Partridge's Dictionary of Slang records the first use of 'twerp' as circa 1910, it is possible that Earp's name and initials may have given rise to the word. Earp was one of the editors of Oxford Poetry 1915, in which one of Tolkien's first published poems, 'Goblin Feet', was printed. 6. Tolkien's reworking of one of the Kalevala stories, 'The Story of Kullervo', was never finished, but proved to be the germ of the story of Túrin Turambar in The Silmarillion. For Tolkien's account of this, see no. 163. 7. Tolkien usually signed his letters to Edith Bran 'Ronald' or 'R.', though he sometimes used his first Christian name, John.

[2] 1. Tolkien wrote a poem entitled 'The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star' in September 1914 The first stanza is quoted in Biography p. 71.

[4] 1. Apparently a reference to an early form of the Elvish language Quenya, first invented by Tolkien probably during undergraduate days. For an example of a stanza written in it, and dated 'November 1915, March 1916', see Biography p. 76.

[7] 1. Henry Bradley (1845-1923) was in charge of the Oxford Dictionary while Tolkien worked on the staff.

[10] 1. Tolkien was at this time the holder of a Leverhulrne Research Fellowship. 2. A black and white illustration included in the first British and American editions of The Hobbit as an illustration to Chapter 8, but not used in subsequent printings. It is reproduced alongside the note to no. 37 in Pictures. 3. As well as the maps, Tolkien had initially offered only the two illustrations mentioned earlier in this letter, both of which were in black and white. The six more now submitted were presumably most of the remaining monochrome drawings which were used in the first edition.

[13] 1. This was the painting entitled 'Beleg finds Gwindor in Taur-nu-Fuin', reproduced as no. 37 in Pictures, where a note gives its history.

[14] 1. C. S. Lewis, Fellow of Magdalen College, and a friend of Tolkien since 1926. 2. Russell Meiggs, Fellow of Keble College and later of Balliol, who at this time edited the Oxford Magazine, in which Tolkien's poems 'The Dragon's Visit' and 'Iumonna Gold Galdre Bewunden (The Hoard)' were published in February and March 1937. 3. One of these pictures was 'Beleg finds Gwindor in Taur-nu-Fuin', q.v. in note 1 to no. 13 above. Tolkien refers to it later in this letter as 'The Mirkwood picture .... [which] illustrates a different adventure', i.e. an episode in The Silmarillion. The other paintings were probably 'Glórund sets forth to seek Turin' and 'Mount Everwhite', which were the only other substantial and finished paintings relating to Middle-earth in existence at this time; they are reproduced as nos 38 and 31 in Pictures. As Tolkien pointed out, the three Silmarillion illustrations were not intended for publication in The Hobbit, and were sent merely as samples of his work.

[15] 1. The publishers wrote in the blurb on the dust-jacket of The Hobbit: "Professor Tolkien – but not his publishers – still remains to be convinced that anybody will want to read his most delightful history of a Hobbit's journey.' 2. George Gordon, formerly Professor of English Literature at Leeds (see no. 46) and then holder of the same chair at Oxford. By 1937he was President of Magdalen College. 3. R.W. Chambers (1874-1942), Professor of English at London University.

Commentary on jacket-flap: [15] 1. Elaine Griffiths of St Anne's College, Oxford, who worked with Tolkien as a research student during the 1930s. For her part in the publication of The Hobbit see no. 294. 2. 'To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful. ' (The Hobbit, Chapter 12.) 3. Owen Barfield, friend of C. S. Lewis and author of Poetic Diction (1928), an account of the development of language from its early roots in mythology. 4. Sir Walter Raleigh, Professor of English Literature at Oxford, 1904-22. 5. A viva voce is the oral part of Oxford University examinations.

[16] . At the Oratory School the equivalent of 'studies' at other public schools were known as 'flats'. . Tolkien's eight-year-old daughter Priscilla, and John Binney, a family friend.

[17] . C. S. Lewis reviewed The Hobbit in The Times on 8 October 1937 and in the Times Literary Supplement on 2 October 1937. Both reviews were unsigned. . Gnome was a term used at this period by Tolkien for the Noldorin Elves; see no. 239. . Latin, 'thus it is hobbited to the stars': an allusion to Aeneid IX. 641, 'sic itur ad astra'. . R. M. Dawkins, who was a member of Tolkien's informal Icelandic reading club, the Coalbiters (see Inklings p. 27). . Parker's bookshop in Broad Street, Oxford.

[19] . 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil', first published in the Oxford Magazine in 1934. . i.e. in the reprint of The Hobbit. . On 1 January 1938 Tolkien lectured on 'Dragons' as part of a series of lectures for children at the University Museum, Oxford. . Unwin had told Tolkien he was going abroad. . Tolkien gave a talk on 'Anglo-Saxon Verse'on the BBC on 14 January 1938. The duration was 13 minutes, and the talk was pan of the series 'Studies in National Inspiration and Characteristic Forms'.

[20] . For an account of the first draft of the opening chapter of The Lord of the Rings, see Biography p. 185. . Arthur Ransome, whose books were much admired by Tolkien's children, wrote to Tolkien, describing himself as 'a humble hobbit fancier', and complaining about Gandalf's use of the term 'excitable little man' as a description of Bilbo. He cited other, similar uses of 'man' or 'men' to describe dwarves and goblins.

[22] . Christopher Tolkien was confined to bed with irregularities of the heart, a condition which caused him to be a total invalid for several years.

[23] . The Long Vacation is the summer vacation at Oxford. Tolkien's research fellowship ended in September 1938.

[24] . This indicates that in the original draft of Out of the Silent Planet the hero was named Unwin; in the published book his name is Ransom. . For another account of this, see no. 294. . Tolkien's unfinished story of time-travel, 'The Lost Road', was shown to Allen & Unwin in November 1937, and was returned by them with the comment that it did not seem likely, even if it was finished, to be a commercial success. For a description of the story, see no. 257, and Biography pp. 170-1.

[26] . Possibly no. 24, which may have been sent as an enclosure with this letter. . Land Under England by Joseph O'Neill (1935). . A phrase used in the reader's report. . Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. (1920).

[28] . Besides his duties at Oxford, Tolkien often acted as an external examiner for other universities, and marked Higher Certificate papers, as he was in need of the extra income. . It is not clear precisely to which works Tolkien was referring. Possibly he had in mind the Middle English Ancrene Wisse and Pearl, the former of which he was editing for the Early English Text Society, and the latter of which he was working on with E. V. Gordon – though in fact neither of these projects was near completion. The work in Old English was probably the revision of Clark Hall's translation of Beowulf, of which Tolkien was reading the proofs, and to which he was supposed to be contributing an introduction; see no. 37. The work in Old Norse to which he refers was probably an edition of Víga-Glúms Saga, edited by G. Turville-Petre (Oxford University Press, 1940); this was one of the Oxford English Monographs, of which Tolkien was joint editor with C. S. Lewis and D. Nichol Smith. . Fox was Dean of Divinity of Magdalen College and an early member of the Inklings.

[29] . German,'confirmation'.

[30] . German, 'descent, genealogy'.

[31] . A society at Worcester College, Oxford.

[33] . For an account of this sequel, see no. 36, and Biography p. 166. . 'The King of the Green Dozen' is the story of the King of Iwerddon, whose hair and the hair of his descendant's twelve sons is coloured green. The Story, which is set in Wales, parodies the 'high' style of narrative. Tolkien never completed it.

[34] .E.V. Gordon, Tolkien's collaborator on the edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

[35] . In January 1939 Tolkien was asked whether in the event of a national emergency (i.e. war) he would be prepared to work in the cryptographical department of the Foreign Office. He agreed, and apparently attended a four-day course of instruction at the Foreign Office beginning on 27 March. But in October 1939 he was informed that his services would not be required for the present, and in the event he never worked as a cryptographer.

[37] . Tolkien injured himself while gardening. . John Tolkien was studying for the Catholic priesthood at the English College in Rome. . H. S. Bennett (1889-1972) of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, medievalist and literary historian.

[38] . 20 Northmoor Road was damaged by burst water-pipes during the winter of 1939-40. . i.e. the revised edition of Clark Hall contained (at this stage) no introductory material apart from an 'argument' or summary of the story of Beowulf, and ten lines of information about the manuscript. . The section of Tolkien's introduction entitled 'On Metre'.

[42] . R. E. Havard (a general medical practitioner). . C. S. Lewis and his brother Major W. H. Lewis. . (Sir) Basil Blackwell, bookseller and publisher. . H. V. D. ('Hugo') Dyson, friend of Lewis and Tolkien, at this time a lecturer at Reading University. . On 10 January 1941 Germany signed a new treaty with Russia as an indication of the mutual understanding that supposedly existed between them at this time. . The daily newspaper of the British Communist Party.

[43] . Tolkien's guardian. Father Francis Morgan, disapproved of his clandestine love-affair with Edith Bratt. . Tolkien was excited during schooldays to discover the existence of the Gothic language; see no. 272. . Classical Honour Moderations, in which Tolkien was awarded a Second Class. . The actual date of Tolkien's Channel crossing with his battalion was 6 June 1916. The poem he refers to, dated 'Étaples, Pas de Calais, June 1916', is entitled 'The Lonely Isle', and is subtitled 'For England', though it also relates to the mythology of The Silmarillion. The poem was published in Leeds University Vene 1914-1924 (Leeds, at the Swan Press, 1924), p. 57. . Tolkien inherited a small income from his parents, derived from shares in South African mines.

[44] . Tolkien's mother died of diabetes ; Tolkien believed her condition had been made worse by his relatives' intolerance of her conversion to Catholicism. . Tolkien's mother had rented rooms for a summer holiday in a cottage occupied by a postman and his wife.

[45] . The final examination taken by undergraduates at Oxford. . During the war, Tolkien organised a syllabus for naval cadets reading English at Oxford. . A. H. Maxwell was Tobacco Controller for the British Government during the war.

[46] . During 1926, Tolkien continued to lecture at Leeds while already holding the chair of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. . Lascelles Abercrombie became Professor of English Literature at Leeds in 1922, after Gordon's return to Oxford. . Gordon was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1907 to 1913. . F. W. Moorman, Professor of English Language at Leeds, died in the summer of 1919; after his death, the post was reduced to the status of a Readership. . The salary appears to have been £500 per annum. . Probably not true; Gordon makes no mention of Kenneth Sisam in his (published) letters discussing the appointment, but writes to R. W. Chapman on 26 June 1920: 'I may take Tolkien from you; but only, I hope, to give him the leisure to do texts.' (Tolkien was at that time working in the Dictionary department of the Oxford University Press.) . See note 4 to no. 15 (commentary on jacket-flap).

[47] . During 1942 Tolkien began to serve as an Air Raid Warden. . In the first draft of The Lord of the Rings the chapters were numbered continuously. XXXI was 'Flotsam and Jetsam', which became Book III, Chapter 9.

[48] . Presumably a lecture on the Arthurian matter. . This initial is meant to stand for 'Tollers', Lewis's usual name for Tolkien.

[49] . The text of Christian Behaviour was later incorporated into Lewis's book Mere Christianity. . Over permanent is written lifelong. This and subsequent alterations are in pencil; the text of the letter is in ink. . Altered to read total human health. . Altered to with. . all is underlined in pencil. . permanent is again altered to lifelong. . 'Social Morality' was the title of an earlier chapter in the book. . elaborate is replaced by defend. . Lewis suggested that if an audience were to watch not a striptease, but a cover being slowly lifted off a dish of bacon, then one would conclude that 'something had gone wrong with the appetite for food'. . Reno, Nevada, famed for its instant divorces. . Latin, 'To hold an opinion with the Church.'

[50] . An office manned by Air Raid Wardens for the North Oxford area.

[52] . Latin, 'I do not wish to be made a bishop.' . Two lines from Tolkien's unpublished poem 'Mythopoeia', written for C. S. Lewis.

[53] . Charles Williams, who was now living in Oxford. . The Teheran Conference, held in November 1943, was attended by the British, American and Russian leaders. . i.e. Winston Spencer Churchill. . 'Collie' Knox, a writer and popular journalist. . The dash is in the original letter; no name is given.

[54] . Anglo-Saxon, '[The] father's counsel [to] his son. '

[55] . Anglo-Saxon, '[The] father [to] his third son.' . Reader in Old Icelandic at Oxford. . The Air Raid post mentioned in no. 50. . Reader in Jewish Studies at Oxford. . i.e. from the fishmonger. . A pub in Broad Street. . The Tolkiens were now keeping hens, and this is a pun on 'fowls'. . Latin, '[The] Father to his Son[,] Born the youngest (but not at all m other respects [the least]).' . Anglo-Saxon, '[The] Father to his own son, the youngest [but] by no means the least loved.' . A Polish officer who had consulted Tolkien a few weeks earlier.

[56] . Tolkien spent the first three years of his life in South Africa, where his father was a bank manager in Bloemfontein. See also no. 163.

[58] . A method of sending letters to servicemen overseas. The text was photographed by the postal authorities, and was delivered to the addressee in the form of a small bromide print which could then be read with the aid of a magnifying glass.

[60] . Dutch, 'Opened by the Censor.' . i.e. 'Mummy and Priscilla'. . C. S. Lewis's brother Warren H. Lewis. . Lord David Cecil, Fellow of New College and an occasional attender at the Inklings. . Sarah Connaughton, a family friend. . David Nichol Smith was Professor of English Literature at Oxford, 1929-46. . Elaine Griffiths; q.v. in note 1 to no. 15 (commentary to jacket-flap). . i.e. proofs of University of Wales examination papers.

[61] . Christopher Tolkien sailed to South Africa on the S.S. Cameronia. Conditions on board were so unpleasant that he and his companions nicknamed it the Altmark, after the German prison-ship of that name. . Heaton Park Camp, Manchester, where Christopher Tolkien had been stationed. . Beowulf 1395-6: 'For this day have thou patience in every woe, even as I know thou wilt.' . Beowulf 1386-8: 'To each one of us shall come in time the end of life in this world; let him who may earn glory ere his death.' (This and the above are taken from Tolkien's translation of the poem.) . Frank Pakenham, later Lord Longford, was Tutor in Politics at Christ Church, 1934-46. . Mary Salu, a graduate pupil of Tolkien's, who later published a translation of the Ancrene Riwle with a preface by Tolkien. . Latin, 'Keep a calm mind, restrain the tongue.'

[63] . i.e. the air-raid siren. . The Mitre Hotel in Turl Street. . Tolkien was an executor of the will of Joseph Wright, who died in 1930. . 'fellow-Christians'. . Anglo-Saxon, 'God alone knows.' . Mabel Tolkien was on 'home leave' in England when her husband died, and was not able to return to Bloemfontein for the funeral.

[64] . An early title for The Silmarillion was The History of the Gnomes' – i.e. of the Noldorin elves. See no. 239.

[66] . A priest at the Birmingham Oratory. . Alexander Buchan (1829-1907), a meteorologist who foretold certain periods of cold weather as being of annual occurrence, and gave his name to the cold spell of May 9-14, which is known as 'Buchan's winter'.

[67] . Leonard Rice-Oxley, Fellow of Keble College. . R. B. McCallum, Fellow of Pembroke College, who at this time was tutoring Michael Tolkien, who had returned to Oxford to read History.

[69] . Father Douglas Carter, parish priest of St Gregory's Catholic Church in Oxford. . 'Who Goes Home' was later re-titled The Great Divorce. . i.e. of Tolkien's story 'Leaf by Niggle', first published in the Dublin Review, January 1945.

[71] . Anglo-Saxon, 'on earth and in heaven'. . Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers (1935).

[72] . H. L. Drake, Walter Ramsden and L. E. Salt, Fellows of Pembroke College, where Tolkien held a Professorial Fellowship. . i.e. Hugo Dyson. . Examination papers for the naval cadets reading English at Oxford. . Proprietor of a bicycle repair shop. . Latin, 'Ah! triumph'. . An annexe to Lincoln College built in Turl Street. . Censor (i.e. head) of St Catherine's Society, Oxford. . H. G. Hanbury, Fellow of Lincoln College and Lecturer in Law.

[73] . E.R. Eddison [sic], author of The Worm Ouroboros and other romances. This was his second visit to the Inklings (see Inklings p. 190). . W. H. Lewis held the rank of Captain in the Royal Army Service Corps until his promotion to Major at the outbreak of the Second World War. . The Mezentian Gate, which remained incomplete at Eddison's death in 1945, though a text was edited by his brother C. R. Eddison and published in 1958.

[74] . After some weeks in the Transvaal, Christopher Tolkien was moved to an air training school at Kroonstad. . Michael Tolkien had been judged unfit for further military service as a result of 'severe shock to nervous system due to prolonged exposure to enemy action'. . An edition of The Hobbit was issued by Foyles of London in 1942; see no.47.

[75] . Tolkien owned a Hammond typewriter with interchangeable typefaces, one of which was very small. . American servicemen, who were in the Oxford area in large numbers. . The translation by W. H. Kirby, published in the Everyman series in 1907. . Classical Honour Moderations; see note 3 to no. 43.

[76] . While on holiday with his family at Lamorna Cove in Cornwall in 1932, Tolkien amused the children by giving the nickname 'Gaffer Gamgee' to a local 'character'. See no. 257. . At the Oxford Playhouse.

[77] . News had come of Allied Advances in Normandy; meanwhile von Papen, the German ambassador to Turkey, had cut short his holiday and returned to Ankara following reports that the Turkish government might break off diplomatic relations with Germany. . Latin, 'Carthage must be destroyed' (Plutarch, Life of Cato).

[79] . A nickname for the Eagle & Child pub.

[81] . Another letter to Christopher Tolkien, dated 22 September 1943, refers to Lewis's 'new translation in rhymed alexandrines of the Aeneid'. It was not published. . Tolkien had promised his translation of Pearl to Blackwell, who wanted to publish it, and had the text set up in type. But Tolkien failed to provide an introduction to the book, and the project was eventually abandoned.

[83] . C. S. Lewis was known to his friends as Jack'; 'Warnie' was the nickname of his brother Warren. . 'Trotter' was the original name of the character Strider in The Lord of the Rings. . Sir William Walton (b. 1902). . A colleague of Tolkien's in the English Department at Leeds University, and the author of many books of poetry. . Father Martin D'Arcy, S.J., Principal of Campion Hall, Oxford, 1932-45. . Old Icelandic, 'world-doom'.

[89] . Also known as the Forty Hours' Devotion. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed on a throne in a monstrance and the faithful pray before it, in turns, throughout forty hours; this length of time was probably fixed on as the period during which Christ's body rested in the tomb. . Greek ἀνάγκη, 'necessity, constraint'. . Elizabeth Jennings, later to become well known as a poet; her family were friends of the Tolkiens.

[91] . This 'final chapter' was written in the form of an Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien eventually decided not to publish.

[92] . Lewis's next published novel after That Hideous Strength and The Great Divorce was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Tolkien is, however, almost certainly referring to some other book of Lewis's that was never completed. Tolkien's 'dimly projected third, may have been 'The Notion Club Papers': see Biography pp. 171-2. . Lewis told Chad Walsh, who visited him in the summer of 1948, that this book was to be called 'Language and Human Nature' and was to be published the following year by the Student Christian Movement Press; but this never happened. In 1950, Lewis wrote to a friend: 'My book with Tolkien – any book in collaboration with that great, but dilatory and unmethodical man – is dated I fear to appear on the Greek Calends' (Letters of C S. Lewis, p. 222).

[94] . 22 Northmoor Road, in which Tolkien lived from 1926 to 1930. . i.e. Mr Anthony Eden, speaking in the House of Commons.

[96] . Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford. . i.e. the Merton Professorships of English Language and Literature and of English Literature. . A reference to a celebrated poster advertising the 'bracing' air of the sea-resort of Skegness, on which there appeared a cheery-looking fisherman clad entirely in oilskins. . This was probably the essay 'Myth became Fact', first published in World Dominion, September/ October 1944, and reprinted in Lewis's book Undeceptions (American title: God in the Dock). . Greek, 'would that I were'; quoted, as are the words that follow, from Rupert Brooke's "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester'. . Latin, 'singly, separately'.

[98] . A second cousin of Rayner Unwin; his real name was Harold. . Christopher Tolkien was never officially a pupil of his father, but he did receive some informal tuition from him during his year as an undergraduate (1942-3) before joining the R.A.F. . It is impossible to say what Tolkien had in mind. Perhaps he was alluding to the embryonic story referred to at the end of no. 69. . This footnote carries no indication, in the original letter, as to which pan of the text it refers to. Its placing here is therefore conjectural. . The Tolkien/d'Ardenne edition of the Western Middle English MS. Katerine, which was never completed. . Tolkien's edition of the MS. Ancrene Wisse, not in fact completed until 1962. . British Daylight Saving Time.

[103] . Tolkien wanted to rent a college house, because 20 Northmoor Road was proving too large for his family's present needs. . Hugo Dyson was elected a Fellow of Merton and was admitted to the college at the same time as Tolkien.

[105] . 'The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun' . 'The Notion Club Papers': see Biography pp.171-2.

[107] . Nothing is known of this person's identity. . Tolkien had arranged to rent this house from Merton College.

[108] . C. H. Wilkinson was the English tutor at Worcester College.

[109] . See note 1 to no. 128. . The first three people in this list were probably Owen Barfield, R. E. Havard and W. H. Lewis; the others cannot certainly be identified, though the artist may have been Tolkien's first cousin Marjorie Incledon, who was a painter. . An earlier name for Fredegar or Fatty Bolger. . '"Policemen never come so far, and the map-makers have not reached this country yet. They have seldom even heard of the king round here....."' (The Hobbit, Chapter 2.) This passage was greatly changed in a later revision. . These pages contain references to the Necromancer. . The Unwins were travelling to Switzerland.

[111] . S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne.

[112] Transcription (pairs of letters in italics are represented by one character in the runes):

THRE MANOR ROAD
SUNDAY NOV[E]MBER
THE THIRTIETH

DEAR MRS FARRER: OF COURSE I WILL SIGN YOUR COPY OF THE HOBBIT. I AM HONOURED BY THE RECWEST. IT IS GOOD NEWS THAT THE BOOK IS OBTAINABLE AGAIN. THE NEXT BOOK WILL CO[N]TAIN MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT RUNES AND OTHER ALFABETS IN RESPO[N]SE TO MANY ENCWIRIES. IN THE MEANTIME WHILE THE GREAT WORK IS BEING FINIS[H]ED I WONDER IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PROPER KEY TO THE SPECIAL DWARVIS[H] ADAPTATION OF THE ENGLIS[H] RUNIC ALFABET ONLY PART OF WHICH APPEARS IN THE HOBBIT INCLUDING THE COVER. WE ENIOYED LAST MONDAY EUENING VERY MUCH AND HOPE FOR A RETURN MATCH SOON.

YOURS SINCERELY

J. R. R. TOLKIEN

[113] . Sir Gawain, line 2363, 'the most faultless knight'. . It appears that Hugo Dyson had been putting it about that Tolkien objected to Lewis's 'loud' manner in the Inklings. . Archaic, 'if. . Bird and Baby, i.e. Eagle and Child pub.

[114] . Hugh Brogan had been a pupil at the school.

[115] . An Elvish sage in Tol Eressëa from whom the mariner Aelfwine heard the legends that make up The Silmarillion; see Biography pp. 90,169.

[118] Transcription (in the runic passage, pairs of letters in italics are represented by one character in the runes; the letter 'Z' is used for the voiced 'S'):

DEAR HUGH THIS [I]Z JUST TO WISH YOU A HAPPY
CHRISTMAS IN DWARF RUNEZ.

dear hugh: this iz just to wish you a very happy christmas
in two styles of elvish script: i am sending some explanations,
and hope you wont find them too complicated.

The third inscription repeats the wording of the second, inserting the word 'I' between 'and' and 'hope'.

[124] . Tolkien was overestimating the combined length of the two works by several hundred thousand words. . i.e. the planned sequel to Farmer Giles of Ham.

[126] . Another Merton College house, not far from 3 Manor Road, which had proved too small for the Tolkiens' needs.

[127] . Unwin's second letter was an acknowledgement of Tolkien's note of 2 April. . Tolkien's anger with Allen & Unwin is shown by the much more strongly-worded draft for this letter, which is quoted in Biography p. 210, in the passage beginning 'i.e. that you may be willing to take....'

[128] . In the original version of Chapter 5 of The Hobbit, Gollum really does intend to give Bilbo the Ring when the hobbit wins the riddle-game, and is deeply apologetic when he finds that it is missing: 'I don't know how many times Gollum begged Bilbo's pardon. He kept on saying: "We are ssorry; we didn't mean to cheat, we meant to give it our only present, if it won the competition." He even offered to catch Bilbo some nice juicy fish to eat as a consolation. 'Bilbo, who has the Ring in his pocket, persuades Gollum to lead him out of the underground passages, which Gollum does, and the two of them part company in a civil manner.

[130] . The note, which was included in the second edition of The Hobbit, explained the change of text in Chapter 5 : 'There the true story of the ending of the Riddle Game, as it was eventually revealed (under pressure) by Bilbo to Gandalf, is now given according to the Red Book, in place of the version Bilbo first gave to his friends, and actually set down in his diary. This departure from truth on the part of a most honest hobbit was a portent of great significance. It does not, however, concern the present story, and those who in this edition make their first acquaintance with hobbit-lore need not trouble about it. Its explanation lies in the history of the Ring, as set out in the chronicles of the Red Book of Westmarch, and it must await their publication.'

[131] . See introductory note to no.19. . Noumenon, neuter of the present participle of (noein), to apprehend, conceive; introduced by Kant in contrast to 'phenomenon', and given the meaning 'an object of purely intellectual intuition, devoid of all phenomenal attributes'. . The text of this letter is taken from a typescript made, at Milton Waldman's instigation, by a professional typist (there are a number of misspellings of names, which Tolkien has corrected); it appears that here the typist has omitted some words from Tolkien's MS. . Tar-Calion (the Quenya name for Ar-Pharazôn) was originally the thirteenth ruler of Numenor; in later developments of the history of Númenor he became the twenty-fifth (usually recorded as the twenty-fourth, but see Unfinished Tales p. 226, note 11). . As earlier letters in this book show. The Lord of the Rings was in fact begun in December 1937.

[132] . C. L. Wrenn succeeded Tolkien as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford.

[133] . Rayner Unwin's letter of 29 [sic] November said that he was 'hoping that I might get the chance of seeing Silmarillion. Believe it or not I am still quite certain that you have something most important for publication in this book and The Lords of the Ring! [sic]' . Maurice Bowra, Warden of Wadham College and, at this time. Vice Chancellor of Oxford University. . In a later letter on the subject of the oral transmission of 'Errantry', Tolkien noted that 'a curious feature was the preservation of the word sigaldry, which I got from a thirteenth-century text'. (To Donald Swann, 14 October 1966.) . See Inklings p. 57. . Sir John Burnett-Stuart [sic] commanded the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in the Second World War. . i.e. 'Authorised Version' and 'Revised Version'. . Russell Meiggs, who edited the Oxford Magazine in the 1930s, is uncertain which member of the Nowell Smith family was among his predecessors. . It may appear at a first glance that Tolkien did write another poem in this metre, 'Eärendil was a mariner', which appears in Book II Chapter 1 of The Lord of the Rings. But this poem is arguably a development of 'Errantry' rather than a separate composition.

[134] . Michael Tolkien was teaching at the Oratory School in Berkshire and had a cottage nearby. . The offices of Allen & Unwin, near the British Museum. . For more about these tape-recordings, some of which were issued on gramophone records in 1975, see Biography p. 213.

[135] . Tolkien's contribution to Essays & Studies was "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorthelm's Son', which was published in this journal in 1953. . The lecture, given in Glasgow on 15 April 1953, consisted of a discussion of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with particular attention to Gawain's temptation to commit adultery with the Lady, and his confession in the chapel at Bercilak's court before going out to meet the Green Knight. . The first British atomic bomb test took place in the Monte Bello Islands, off Australia, on 3 October 1952.

[136] . A list of contents to The Lord of the Rings written by Tolkien and included in the manuscript of that book at Marquette University, Milwaukee, U.S.A., has a different set of titles : Vol. I The First Journey and The Journey of the Nine Companions ; Vol. II The Treason of Isengard and The Journey of the Ringbearers ; Vol. III The War of the Ring and The End of the Third Age.

[137] . A note on Volume I of the first edition of The Lord of the Rings promised that Volume III would contain 'some abridged family-trees .... an index of names and strange words with some explanations .... [and] some brief account .... of the languages, alphabets and calendars'. The 'index of names' did not, in the event, appear in the first edition of Volume III. . The inscription around the West Gate of the Mines of Moria. . Tolkien had planned to include facsimiles of the damaged pages of the 'Book of Mazarbul', but these had to be omitted because of cost (they were in several colours). They are reproduced as no. 23 in Pictures. . The subject of his W. P. Ker Lecture; see note 2 to no. 135 above. . Tolkien is here referring to his long letter to Milton Waldman (no. 131).

[140] . In a subsequent letter to Rayner Unwin (no. 143), Tolkien is more definite that the Two Towers are 'Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol'. On the other hand, in his original design for the jacket of The Two Towers (see no. 151) the Towers are certainly Orthanc and Minas Morgul. Orthanc is shown as a black tower, three-homed (as seen in Pictures no. 27), and with the sign of the White Hand beside it; Minas Morgul is a white tower, with a thin waning moon above it, in reference to its original name. Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon (The Fellowship of the Ring p. 257). Between the two towers a Nazgûl flies.

[143] . The Appendices to Volume III.

[144] . '"Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob búbhosh skai."' . '"... all the gardens of the Entwives are wasted: Men call them the Brown Lands now."' . '"My grand-dad, and my uncle Andy after him,.... he had a rope-walk over by Tighfield many a year."' . '"Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?"' . Naomi Mitchison's house in Scotland.

[145] . Bannister, a Senior Scholar of Merton College, was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes, a record that he achieved at Oxford on 6 May 1954.

[148] . Allen & Unwin wished to publish Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which had been broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in a dramatised version in December 1953, with a repeat (referred to by Tolkien in this letter) in September 1954.

[149] . Peter Green, the biographer of Kenneth Grahame, wrote in the Daily Telegraph on 27 August 1954 : 'I presume it is meant to be taken seriously, and am apprehensive that I can find no really adequate reasons for doing so. .... And yet this shapeless work has an undeniable fascination: especially to a reviewer with a cold in his head.' . Edwin Muir wrote in the Observer on 22 August 1954 : 'This remarkable book makes its appearance at a disadvantage. Nothing but a great masterpiece could survive the bombardment of praise directed at it from the blurb. .... The Fellowship of the Ring is an extraordinary book. .... Yet for myself I could not resist feeling a certain disappointment. Perhaps this was partly due to the style, which is quite unequal to the theme. .... But perhaps it was due more to a lack of the human discrimination and depth which the subject demanded. . J. W. Lambert wrote in the Sunday Times on 8 August 1954: 'Whimsical drivel with a message? No; it sweeps along with a narrative and pictorial force which lifts it above that level. A book for bright children? Well, yes and no.' . A. E. Cherryman wrote in Truth on 6 August 1954: 'It is an amazing piece of work..... He has added something, not only to the world's literature, but to its history.' . Howard Spring wrote in Country Life on 26 August 1954: 'This is a work of art. .... It has invention, fancy and imagination..... It is a profound parable of man's everlasting struggle against evil.' . H. l'A. Fawcett wrote in the Manchester Guardian on 20 August 1954: 'Mr Tolkien is one of those born story-tellers who makes his readers as wide-eyed as children for more.' . The Oxford Times review, signed 'C.H.H.', was printed on 13 August 1954, and described the book as 'extraordinary and often beautiful'.

[150] . See note 1 to no. 137 above.

[151] . Tolkien made two finished designs for The Fellowship of the Ring, both of which survive. In that referred to here, the Ruling Ring, surrounded by the fiery letters of its inscription, and the Red Ring (Narya) above it, were represented exactly as in the other design, which was adopted, and which is still seen in enlarged form on the jackets of the three-volume hardback and paperback editions published by Allen & Unwin; but in the design referred to here there appeared below to left and right the White Ring (Nenya) and the Blue Ring (Vilya), with their gems turned towards the Ruling Ring in the centre.

[153] . One would expect 'three cases': cf. The Lord of the Rings III 314: There were three unions of the Eldar and the Edain: Lúthien and Beren; Idril and Tuor; Arwen and Aragorn. By the last the long-sundered branches of the Half-elven were reunited and dieir line was restored.' . ' "Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer. Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless?" ' . i.e. the poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' was first published in that magazine in 1934. . '"We look towards Númenor that was, and beyond to Elvenhome that is, and to that which is beyond Elvenhome and will ever be. Have you no such custom at meat?"'

[154] . Naomi Mitchison reviewed The Fellowship of the Ring in the New Statesman on 18 September 1954. She called it 'extraordinary, terrifying and beautiful'. . German, 'realities, technical facts'. . sic, here and elsewhere in the letter. . Mentioned in Mrs Mitchison's review.

[155] . Greek γοητεία (γόης, sorcerer); the English form Goety is defined in the O.E.D. as 'witchcraft or magic performed by the invocation and employment of evil spirits; necromancy.' . Alongside the final paragraph, Tolkien has written: 'But the Númenóreans used "spells" in making swords?'

[156] . Peter Hastings; see no. 153. . Greek, 'messenger'. . See note 4 to no. 131.

[157] . Trinity College, of which Katherine Farrer's husband Austin was Chaplain, had reduced the fees for the education of Tolkien's sons when they were undergraduates there. . Perhaps C. S. Lewis's review of The Fellowship of the Ring in Time & Tide, 14 August 1954. . i.e. 'New York Sunday Times'. Auden reviewed The Fellowship of the Ring in the New York Times Book Review on Sunday 31 October 1954, and in Encounter, November 1954. . Edin Muir, reviewing The Two Towers in the Observer on 21 November 1954, wrote of the Ents: 'Symbolically they are quite convincing, yet they are full of character, too, as formidable and strange as a forest of trees going to war.'

[163] . Auden used the term 'trilogy' in his letter; for Tolkien's dislike of it as applied to The Lord of the Rings see nos. 149 and 165. . From the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer, 87: 'eald enta geweorc idlu stodon', 'the old creations of giants [i.e. ancient buildings, erected by a former race] stood desolate.' . The reviewer, Maurice Richardson, wrote: 'It is all I can do to restrain myself from shouting .... "Adults of all ages! Unite against the infantilistinvasion.".... Mr Auden has always been captivated by the pubescent world of the saga and the classroom. There are passages in The Orators which are not unlike bits of Tolkien's hobbitry.' (18 December 1954.) . Tolkien's second son Michael. . The Fall of Gondolin' was in fact read to the Exeter College Essay Club not in 1918 but in 1920, as is recorded in the club's minute book: '... on Wednesday March 10th at 8.15 p.m. .... the president passed to public business, and called upon Mr J. R. R. Tolkien to read his "Fall of Gondolin". As a discovery of a new mythological background Mr Tolkien's matter was exceedingly illuminating and marked him as a staunch follower of tradition, a treatment indeed in the manner of such typical romantics as William Morris, George Macdonald, de la Motte Fouqué etc. .... The battle of the contending forces of good and evil as represented by the Gongothlim [sic, for Gondothlim, the name for the people of Gondolin in the original 'Fall of Gondolin'; see Unfinished Tales p. 5] and the followers of Melco [sic, for Melko, an early name for Melkor] was very graphically and astonishingly told.' Among those at the meeting were Nevill Coghill and Hugo Dyson. . Latin, 'who has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble' ; from the Magnificat. . A potentially misleading statement. While he was writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien laboured at revising and rewriting a great pan of The Silmarillion. On the other hand. The Silmarillion was in existence before 1936, and cannot be regarded as having originated between that year and 1953. . 'He is surer of finding the way home in a blind night than the cats of Queen Beruthiel.' (Aragorn of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, Book II, Chapter 4.) See Unfinished Tales pp. 401-2. . An episode from Tolkien's childhood in Bloemfontein; see Biography p. 13.

[165] . The English meaning of tollkühn. . His mother's maiden name was Suffield. . See Biography pp. 168-9. . E. R. Eddison.

[168] . i.e. Enedwaith. For the history of this region see Unfinished Tales pp. 262-4.

[171] . Second person singular of 'I wot', with an optional 'double negative'.

[172] . Tolkien's lecture 'English and Welsh', the first of the O'Donnell Lectures, was delivered in Oxford on 21 October 1955, and was published in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures, University of Wales Press, 1963.

[174] . See note 8 to no. 163.

[177] . This professorship at Oxford had fallen vacant with the end of C. Day Lewis's term of office, and nominations were being invited for his successor. W. H. Auden was eventually elected.

[180] . International languages, invented during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. . See no. 211, and also Unfinished Tales pp. 389-90, 393-4. . See note 4 to no. 163.

[181] . But see note 5 to no. 131. . A reference to the proposal for a 'relief road through Christ Church Meadow.

[188] . The 1947 Swedish translation, published under the title Hompen.

[190] . A term signifying an imaginary 'rustic' county. . i.e cane, 'duck', + étang, 'pool, pond'.

[191] . 'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.'

[192] . "Pity? It was Pity that stayed [Bilbo's] hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity."' . '"Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker."' (Gandalf to Frodo.)

[193] . 'She [Morwen] bore him three children in Gondor, of whom Théoden, the second, was his only son.'

[195] . The reference is to a passage in 'The Scouring of the Shire' (Book VI, Chapter 8) where Frodo tells Pippin : ' "There is to be no slaying of hobbits, not even if they have gone over to the other side..... No hobbit has ever killed another on purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now. And nobody is to be killed at all, if it can be helped." '

[199] . Eddison in fact read from The Mezentian Gate, see no. 73. . 'You may like or dislike his invented worlds (I myself like that of The Worm Ouroboros and strongly dislike that of Mistress of Mistresses) but there is no quarrel between the theme and the articulation of the story.'

[200] . There is perhaps a contrast here to Unfinished Tales p. 254: 'The probability is that Sauron was in fact one of the Aulëan Maiar, corrupted "before Arda began" by Melkor.' On the 'attachment' of Olórin to Manwë, see Unfinished Tales p. 393.

[203] . The text of this letter is taken from an article in Mallorn 10, p. 19, with silent emendation of the uncharacteristic 'that's', 'there's', etc., to 'that is', 'there is', which was Tolkien's normal usage.

[204] . Almqvist & Wiksell Förlag AB, Stockholm, one of Tolkien's Swedish publishers. . The translator of the Swedish edition of The Lord of the Rings. . The translator of the Dutch edition. . Björnavad: 'Bear-ford'. Gamleby: 'Old village'. Manbergen : 'Moon-mountains'. Ljusa slätterna: 'Bright plains'. In fact Manbergen seems not to have been used, but the River Lune and the Gulf of Lune were translated Månfloden, Mångolfen.

[205] . Christopher Tolkien said in his lecture : 'In the hosts of Attila there went men of many Germanic peoples. .... Indeed, his name itself appears to be Gothic, a diminutive of atta, the Gothic for "father". ' . 'A star shines on the hour of our meeting' (The Lord of the Rings, Book I, Chapter 3). The reading in the letter, omentieimo, is the same as in the first edition of the book, but Tolkien later changed it to omentielvo. The Elvish language Quenya makes a distinction in its dual inflexion, which turns on the number of persons involved; failure to understand this was, Tolkien remarked, 'a mistake generally made by mortals'. So in this case. Tolkien made a note that the Thain's Book of Minas Tirith', one of the supposed sources of The Lord of the Rings, had the reading omentielvo, but that Frodo's original (lost) manuscript probably had omentieimo; and that omentielvo is the correct form in the context. (The Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings has the erroneous reading 'omentiimo'.)

[206] . The publishers of the Dutch edition of The Lord of the Rings. . Professor Piet Harting of Amsterdam University, a friend of Tolkien for many years. . See further Biography pp. 225-6.

[207] . Forrest J. Ackerman, agent for the film company; see no. 202.

[210] . 'Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire.' . i.e. in the inn at Bree. . 'The darkness was breaking too soon, before the date that his Master had set it.' . The slaying of the Lord of the Nazgûl by Éowyn. . 'The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die. .... It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.' . 'But here and there bright sunbeams fell in glimmering shafts from the eastern windows, high under the deep eaves.' 'The sunlight was blotted out from the eastern windows ; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night. '

[211] . This reading was adopted in later printings. . In Appendix A to The Lord of the Rings (III. 315) the King of Númenor preceding Ar-Adûnakhôr was Tar-Calmacil; the mention here of Tar-Atanamir seems to be no more than a slip. See further Unfinished Tales pp. 226-7. . Elsewhere Tolkien called the other two wizards Ithryn Luin, the Blue Wizards; see Unfinished Tales pp. 389-90. . In the Index to The Silmarillion the names Elrond, Elros, and Elwing are translated 'Star-dome', 'Star-foam', and 'Star-spray'. These interpretations of the names are later than those in the present letter. . This paragraph is taken from another text of the letter (a draft). The version sent is more brief on this point. . 'The regions in which Hobbits then lived were doubtless the same as those in which they still linger: the North-West of the Old World, east of the Sea.'

[212] . In The Silmarillion (pp. 43-4) there is no mention of the 'six mates'.

[214] . Mr Nunn's letter called Tolkien'a model of scholarship'. . See The Lord of the Rings III 413 (Appendix F). . A derivative of Anglo-Saxon byrd, 'birth'. . Two Pantos are named in the family tree of Baggins of Hobbiton (The Lord of the Rings III 380), the first being an ancestor of Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck. . Lalia the Great is not mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but her husband Fortinbras II appears in the family tree of Took of Great Smials (The Lord of the Rings III 381).

[220] . Federated Superannuation Scheme for Universities. . As an examiner to the National University of Ireland.

[224] . Latin, 'therefore I will keep silent'.

[228] . Åke Ohlmarks, translator of the Swedish edition of The Lord of the Rings; he had included a biographical article about Tolkien in his translation of the book.

[229] . Swedish, 'mastery, masterly skill'.

[230] . 'I am .... of the race of the West [i.e. Númenor] unmingled' (III 249). . 'Laurelindórean lindelorendor malinomélion ornemalin.' . Taurelilómëa-Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor.' . From Glorfindel's greeting to Aragorn: 'Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae govannen!' (1222). . 'A vanimar, vanimálion nostari!' (III 259). . The following lines are translated by Tolkien in the letter. Line 2: 'Cuio i Pheriain anann! Aglar'ni Pheriannath!' Line 4: 'Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annûn! Eglerio!' Line 6: 'Eglerio!' Line 7: 'A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet!' Line 9: 'Cormacolindor, a laita tárienna!'

[232] . i.e. in the tales of 'Saki' (H. H. Munro). . A story entitled Woorroo, published by Joyce Reeves under the name of Joyce Gard (Gollancz, 1961). She had sent a copy to Tolkien.

[234] . 'with silver tipped at plenilune / his spear was hewn of ebony' (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil p. 27). 'At plenilune in his argent moon / in his heart he longed for Fire' (ibid., p. 36). . Jane Neave had written to Tolkien: 'The Pied Piper never palls! It is asked for every day of every visit when the children are here. But yours would be so much more welcome. ' . Probably not a poem included in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; most of the verses in that book were composed some years before it was published.

[235] . 'However good in themselves, illustrations do little good to fairy-stories. The radical distinction between all art (including drama) that offers a visible presentation and true literature is that it imposes one visible form. Literature works from mind to mind and is thus more progenitive.' ('On Fairy-Stories', Note E.)

[236] . The paragraph in Appendix F beginning 'It is to mark this that I have ventured to use the form dwarves...' . The printers of the Puffin edition. . The printers of The Lord of the Rings (3-volume hardback, first and second editions). . Founder and Chairman of Penguin Books, of which Puffin is a division.

[237] . '"Your mother if she saw you, / she'd never know her son, unless 'twas by a whisker." ' (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, p. 19.) Cf. : 'The Aesir handed over the treasure to Hreidmar, stuffed the onerskin full and set it on its feet. Then the Aesir had to pile the gold alongside and cover it up. When that was completed, Hreidmar went up and saw a single whisker, and told them to cover that.' (Völsungasaga, Chapter 14; translation by R. G. Finch.) . 'queer tales from Bree, and talk at smithy, mill, and cheaping'. (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, p. 21.) Cf. : 'From mulne ant from chepinge, from smiððe ant from ancre hus me tidinge bringeð.' ('From mill and from market, from smithy and from anchor-house one hears the news.') (Ancrene Wisse, edited by J. R. R. Tolkien, Early English Text Society, 1962, p. 48; translation from The Ancrene Riwle by M. B. Salu, Bums and Oates, 1955, p. 39.)

[238] . American critic, who visited Tolkien and Unwin in the summer of 1962. . The broadcast was actually on 7 August 1936. It was initiated by Guy Pocock, who had seen the MS. of Tolkien's translation while he was with the publishing house of Dent, to whom it was offered. Pocock later joined the staff of the BBC. . The poem is "The Nameless Land', published in G. S. Tancred (ed.). Realities, an anthology of verse (Leeds, at the Swan Press; London, Gay Sc Hancock, 1927), p. 24. It is written in the Pearl stanza, and begins:

There lingering lights do golden lie
On grass more green than in gardens here....

[239] . Two words are in question : (1) Greek gnōmē, 'thought, intelligence' (and in the plural 'maxims, sayings', whence the English word gnome, a maxim or aphorism, and adjective gnomic) – and (2) the word gnome used by the 16th-century writer Paracelsus as a synonym of pygmaeus. Paracelsus 'says that the beings so called have the earth as their element.... through which they move unobstructed as fish do through water, or birds and land animals through air' (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. Gnome²). The O.E.D. suggests that whether Paracelsus invented the word himself or not it was intended to mean 'earth-dweller', and it discounts any connection with the other word Gnome.

[240] . 'suddenly .... there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band'. . 'He made no secret that he owed his recent knowledge to Farmer Maggot, whom he seemed to regard as a person of more importance than they had imagined.' . Sir Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors, III Chapter 10: 'That a Kingfisher, hanged by the bill, showeth where the wind lay.' . See note 1 to no. 237. . See note 2 to no. 237.

[241] . On p. 3 of 'English and Welsh' Tolkien writes: '[A] story .... which I first met in the pages of Andrew Boord [sic], physician of Henry VIII.... tells how the language of Heaven was changed. St Peter, instructed to find a cure for the din and chatter which disturbed the celestial mansions, went outside the Gates and cried caws bobi, and slammed the Gates to again before the Welshmen that had surged out discovered that this was a trap without cheese.' . 'My college .... was shocked when the only prize I ever won .... the Skeat Prize for English at Exeter College, was spent on Welsh.' ('English and Welsh', p. 38.) . '.... not presuming to enter the litigious lists of the accredited Celtic scholars....' . Lady Agnew, a resident of Northmoor Road. . But in the foreword to Tree and Leaf (1964), Tolkien wrote: 'It was suddenly lopped and mutilated. .... It is cut down now.'

[242] . The book was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement on 23 November 1962 (p. 892) and in the Listener on 22 November 1962 (p. 831). The latter review was very enthusiastic, and talked of Tolkien's 'superb technical skill.... something close to genius'.

[244] . 'Faramir .... held out a white rod; but Aragorn took the rod and gave it back, saying: "That office is not ended, and it shall be thine and thy heirs' as long as my line shall last."'

[246] . 'And there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again ; and in his eyes there was peace now, neither strain of will nor madness, nor any fear. .... "The Quest is achieved, and now all is over," [said Frodo].' . Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the first page of the chapter 'Many Partings' (Book VI Chapter 6); and this passage: 'We can't go any quicker, if we are going to see Bilbo. I am going to Rivendell first, whatever happens.' . Elrond's blessing to Frodo at the end of Book VI Chapter 6. . 'His mind was hot with wrath..... It would be just to slay this treacherous, murderous creature. .... But deep in his heart there was something that restrained him: he could not strike this thing lying in the dust, forlorn, ruinous, utterly wretched.' . 'Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dûr. '

[247] . This account, 'The Quest of Erebor', is printed in Unfinished Tales.

[248] . The pagination is that of Essays Presented to Charles Williams, and the passage cited is: 'It is easy for the student to feel that with all his labour he is collecting only a few leaves, many of them now torn or decayed, from the countless foliage of the Tree of Tales, with which the Forest of Days is carpeted.' . 'The Christian .... may now, perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy he may actually assist in the effoliation and multiple enrichment of creation.'

[249] . Sir James Murray (1837-1915) founded the Oxford English Dictionary.

[250] . Possibly a reference to Pius X's recommendation of daily communion and children's communion. . The Second Vatican Council (1962-6). . Tolkien's guardian, Fr Francis Morgan. . Tolkien's home from 1926 until 1930. . Latin, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' (From the Communion service.) . The general practitioner who attended Tolkien during his visits to (and, later, residence in) Bournemouth. . Tolkien's grandson, Michael's son, then at St Andrews University studying English. . See note 5 to no. 19, which gives details about this broadcast. . James Callaghan, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour opposition party at this time. The Labour Party came to power in 1964. . i.e. before 1931, implying that The Hobbit was written in this year. (But see Biography p. 177.)

[251] . James Dundas-Grant, one of the Inklings. . Lewis's stepson. . Professor of English at Keele University and a former pupil of Lewis.

[252] . The words 'We were separated.... long after the event' are struck through in the draft. . See note 3 to no. 24.

[253] . See Tolkien's drawing The Tree of Amalion', no. 41 in Pictures.

[254] . R. W. ('Dickie') Reynolds; see Biography p.47. . Wiseman became headmaster of Queen's College, Taunton. . Headmaster of King Edward's.

[257] . 'Light as Leaf on Lindentree', The Gryphon, new series VI no. 6 (June 1925), p. 217. . '.... to be the bride-price of Lúthien to Thingol her father.' (Misprinted as 'bride-piece' in all editions for many years, and only recently corrected.) For an account of this poem, see Inklings pp. 29-30. . See introductory note to no. 9. . In Cornwall, on the coast not far from Penzance. This holiday was in the summer of 1932. . Tolkien lived in Duchess Road from 1908 until 1910. . Brummagem is the local (and very old) form of the name of Birmingham.

[261] . Bailey wrote: 'From the very first tutorial, Lewis consistently mistook me for Geoff Dutton, an Australian and an excellent student, and Dutton for me.'

[267] . Latin, 'in this city the solemn light. '

[268] ."'In him one of the mighty steeds of old has returned."' '"Were the West Wind to take a body visible, even so would it appear."' 'These were the mearas..... Men said of them that Béma (whom the Eldar call Oromë) must have brought their sires from West over Sea.'

[269] . '"The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don't think it gave life to the orcs: it only ruined them and twisted them."'

[270] . The offices of the Houghton Mifflin Co. are in Boston, Mass.

[274] . 'They waded the stream, and hurried over a wide open space, rush-grown and treeless, on the further side. Beyond that they came again to a belt of trees: tall oaks, for the most part, with here and there an elm tree or an ash.'

[275] . Sir Cyril Norwood (1875-1956), President of St John's College, Oxford, and author of the Norwood Report on education.

[276] . In fact at least three people beside C. S. Lewis had read the mythology: Christopher Tolkien, Rayner Unwin, and Lord Halsbury.

[278] . Tolkien's remark is certainly enigmatic, because in Light on C. S. Lewis (Bles, 1965), Owen Barfield makes a number of comments on Lewis's personality. Possibly Tolkien was referring to Barfield's puzzlement about 'the great change, that took place in [Lewis] between the years 1930 and 1940 – a change that roughly coincided with his conversion...but which did not appear, and does not appear in retrospect, to be inevitably or even naturally connected with it' (p. ix). Barfield continued: 'Was there something, at least in his impressive, indeed splendid, literary personality, which was somehow — and with no taint of insincerity — voulu?.... some touch of a more than merely ad hoc pastiche?' (p. xi). Alternatively, Tolkien may have been alluding to Barfield's remark (p. xvi) about Lewis's 'distinctive combination of an almost supreme intellectual and "phantastic" maturity, laced with moral energy, on the other hand, with .... a certain psychic or spiritual immaturity on the other'.

[281] . This drawing is reproduced as no. 19 in Pictures. . '"You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?" ' (Gandalf to Bilbo).

[293] . Tolkien apparently relented, for Foster's interview with him was published in The Scotsman on 25 March 1967.

[294] . W. H. Auden; see no. 284. . See introductory note to no. 9. . According to Tolkien's friend Elaine Griffiths, the MS. was in fact lent by Tolkien to Susan Dagnall, who had heard about it from Miss Griffiths. . For Tolkien's correspondence with Jane Neave, the aunt here mentioned, see nos. 231, 234, 238 and 241. . See no. 202. . By John Christopher, first published in 1956. . See also no. 24 for an account of this.

[295] . It is not known to what letter Tolkien was referring. . Auden had sent Tolkien a typescript of the translation he and Paul B. Taylor had made of the Völuspá or 'Song of the Sibyl'. It was eventually published in a collection of their translations from the Edda, under the title The Elder Edda: A Selection (Faber & Faber, 1969); this book was dedicated to Tolkien. . A long unpublished poem entitled 'Volsungakviða En Nyja', probably written in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Tolkien described it, in a letter to Auden dated 29 January 1968, as 'written in fomyr8islag 8-line stanzas in English: an attempt to organise the Edda material dealing with Sigurd and Gunnar'. Fornyrðislag is the Old Norse stanzaic metre, very closely resembling in its lines those of Old English poetry, in which most of the narrative poems of the Edda were composed.

[297] . This commentary was published, after Tolkien's death, in Jared Lobdell (ed.), A Tolkien Compass (La Salle, Illinois, Open Court, 1975), pp. 153-201.

[300] . Nickname for C. S. Lewis. . F. E. Brightman (1856-1932), Fellow of Magdalen College.

[303] . Tolkien lived with his mother and younger brother in a cottage opposite this mill, in a hamlet outside Birmingham, during his early childhood.

[306] . Latin, 'that was an omen'. . Officers' Training Corps. . '"You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have."' '"It is not our pan to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set."' . Bishop J. A. T. Robinson, Author of Honest to God (1963). . Tolkien's younger brother (1894-1976). . The lecture, delivered on 5 June 1959, was eventually published in J. R. R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller, ed. M. B. Salu & R. T. Farrell (Cornell University Press, 1979).

[307] . 'Old age has stolen upon me... I am older than I was both in winters [i.e. years] and in learning [i.e. wisdom].'

[309] . J. B. Tolkien (1807-96) was in fact 89 when he died. . But see no. 334, one of many letters signed 'Ronald' (never 'John' except to his wife in the days of their courtship), and in which he asks Rayner Unwin to call him this.

[311] . Mrs Parke, who acted as driver and general help to the Tolkiens for several hours a week.

[312] . Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula by Mary Maytham Kidd (Oxford University Press, 1950).

[315] . Tolkien had made over the greater pan of his literary income to his sons and daughter; if he survived for seven years after doing so, the gift would be free of death duties.

[316] . This letter was never received by the Dictionary Department, and was probably never sent. . This definition was used, prefaced by the words 'In the tales of J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)', in the 1976 Supplement to the Dictionary. . See no. 25.

[318] . See note 3 to no. 1; also no. 308. . See note 4 to no. 1.

[319] . See no. 25. . Green informed Tolkien that the author was E. H. Knatchbull Hugessen and the book was Stories For My Children (1869).

[323] . The Morris car which the Tolkiens owned in the 1930s bore a registration plate which began with the letters JO.

[328] . Fellow of Balliol College.

[332] . Tolkien was staying with his son Christopher and family in the village near Oxford where they then lived. . Tolkien's first cousin.

[336] . Idols in a story by Lord Dunsany; see no. 294.

[338] . The song of the Ent and Entwife in the chapter 'Treebeard'. . German philosopher and writer on Kierkegaard; 1879-1945.

[351] . W. H. Lewis. . T. P. Dunning, C.M., of University College, Dublin; scholar in Anglo-Saxon. . Rosfrith Murray, daughter of Sir James Murray. See no. 249.

[354] . The driver of the hired car by which Tolkien travelled to Bournemouth. . The Bournemouth hotel where Tolkien and his wife had often stayed.