528

J. R. R. Tolkien

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
J. R. R. Tolkien

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2016 Mar 09 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS, one page, 7 x 9, personal letterhead, April 17, 1967. Letter to J. D. Gilbert, in full: “Thank you very much for your charming letter which pleased me very much. I think one of the reasons why books read in childhood lose their charm later is that many of them are actually very ill-written, and this fault is not (consciously) noted by the uncritical and inexperienced reader. With regard to my published work, there is one item that might interest you and which you may not actually have, and that is The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth. It was originally in Essays and Studies of the English Association (New Series), published by John Murray, I think in 1951. It has been reprinted in The Tolkien Reader, published only in America by Houghton Mifflin, Boston. I am in fact under contract to publish the legends and stories of the eras before the Third Age, especially those briefly summarized in Appendix A, the first few pages of which refer to things already written but not revised. Time goes too quickly. The notice of my anniversay [sic] (which you observed in The Times) warns me that that event, my golden wedding, which seems like yesterday, is now a year past, and in March 1966 I expected to have done a great deal more work than I have, before now.” Tolkien makes a single correction and handwrites five words, “My golden wedding” and “before now.” In fine condition.

Originally published in volume six of the scholarly journal Essays and Studies in 1953, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son is a part play and alliterative poem inspired by The Battle of Maldon, an old English poem based on a noted Viking invasion in 991 AD. Published the year before his fantasy masterpiece, the work’s central themes of war, pride, courage, leadership, and the use of strength mirror closely those in The Lord of the Rings. The year this letter was written, Tolkien published his two final works of original fiction—The Road Goes Ever On and Smith of Wootton Major.