Read The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Online
Authors: Humphrey Carpenter
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (3 page)
Philology, indeed, appears to have lost for these students its connotations of terror if not of mystery. An active discussion-class has been conducted, on lines more familiar in schools of literature than of language, which has borne fruit in friendly rivalry and open debate with the corresponding literary assembly. A Viking Club has even been formed, by past and present students of Old Icelandic, which promises to carry on the same kind of activity independently of the staff. Old Icelandic has been a point of special development, and usually reaches a higher standard than the other special subjects, being studied for two years and in much the same detail as Anglo-Saxon. . . . .
The large amount of teaching and direction which my post has hitherto involved, supplemented by a share in the general administration of a growing department, and latterly by the duties of a member of Senate at a time of special difficulty in University policy, has seriously interfered with my projects for publishable work; but I append a note of what I have found time to do. If elected to the Rawlinson and Bosworth Chair I should endeavour to make productive use of the opportunities which it offers for research; to advance, to the best of my ability, the growing neighbourliness of linguistic and literary studies, which can never be enemies except by misunderstanding or without loss to both; and to continue in a wider and more fertile field the encouragement of philological enthusiasm among the young.
I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
J. R. R. Tolkien.
Â
22 July 1925
My election to the Rawlinson & Bosworth professorship at Oxford has just been announced to me, & I have accepted â it takes effect from next October 1st â only with feelings of great regret at this sudden severance, in spite of this unexpected turn of fortune for myself.
Only the sudden resignation of my predecessor has thrust this upon me so soon â I dimly coveted it as a thing perhaps for the more distant years, but now after this University's kindness, and the great happiness
of my brief period of work here, I feel ungrateful in asking to be released from my appointment so soon. I hope for your forgiveness.
[Tolkien wrote the greater part of
The Hobbit
during his first seven years as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. A text was in existence by the winter of 1932, when it was read by C. S. Lewis, though at this stage the typescript apparently lacked the final chapters, and broke off shortly before the death of the dragon Smaug. This typescript was eventually seen by Susan Dagnall, an Oxford graduate working for the London publishing house of Allen & Unwin, and she encouraged Tolkien to complete the story and offer it for publication. See nos. 163, 257, and 294 for Tolkien's account of her involvement with the book, though two of these later letters are in error in suggesting that Susan Dagnall was still an Oxford student when she read the manuscript. See further
Biography
p. 180. It was on 3 October 1936 that Tolkien sent the completed typescript to Allen & Unwin. Stanley Unwin, founder and chairman of the firm, replied on 5 October that they would give their âimmediate and careful consideration' to the book. No further correspondence survives until the following letter. By the time that Tolkien wrote it, the book had been accepted for publication, and he was already preparing maps and illustrations.]
4 January 1937
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Miss Dagnall,
Maps &c. for â
The Hobbit
'.
I am sorry for the long delay. I was unwell for some time, and then faced by a family laid low one by one by influenza, brought back from school for the entire ruin of Christmas. I succumbed myself on New Year's Eve. It has been difficult to do anything, and what I have done is I fear poor enough. I have redrawn two items: the chart, which has to be tipped in (in Chapter I), and the general map. I can only hope â as I have small skill, and no experience of preparing such things for reproduction â that they may possibly serve. The other maps I have decided are not wanted.
I have redrawn (as far as I am capable) one or two of the amateur illustrations of the âhome manuscript', conceiving that they might serve as endpapers, frontispiece or what not. I think on the whole such things, if they were better, might be an improvement. But it may be impossible at this stage, and in any case they are not very good and may be technically unsuitable. It would be kind if you would retum the rejected.
Yours sincerely
J. R. R. Tolkien.
[Some time between 1932 and 1937, Tolkien wrote and illustrated a short book for children entitled
Mr Bliss.
For a description of it, see
Biography
p. 163. It was shown to Allen & Unwin at the same time that
The Hobbit
was submitted. The publishers said they would be happy to accept it, providing Tolkien could reduce the number of colours in the drawings.]
17 January 1937
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sir,
âMr Bliss' returned safely. I can only say that I was surprised to receive your kind letter the following morning. I did not imagine that he was worth so much trouble. The pictures seem to me mostly only to prove that the author cannot draw. But if your firm really think that he is worth publishing, I will try and make the illustrations more easy to reproduce. Certainly it would be a great help, if you would be so kind as to call, as you suggest, and give me some advice. I am at present endeavouring to earn a grant for âresearch',
1
in addition to my ordinary duties, but I may find some odd moments in the near future, especially as I am freed from the burden of examining for two years.
I am also grateful and pleasantly surprised that the drawings for âthe Hobbit' can be used. I leave it in your hands as to the best way of reproducing and using them. Actually the
chart
â the map with runes â was intended to be tipped in (folded) in Chapter I, opposite the first mention of it: âa piece of parchment rather like a map', towards the end of the chapter. The
other map
in the âhome MS.' came at the end, and the long narrow drawing of
Mirkwood
2
was at the beginning. The
Elvenking's Gate
came at the end of Ch. VIII,
Lake Town
in Ch. X,
The Front Gate
in Ch. XI after the description of the adventurers' first sight of it: âthey could see the dark cavernous opening in a great cliff-wall'. In considering the matter closer I see that this concentrates all the maps and pictures, in place or reference, towards the end. This is due to no plan, but occurs simply because I failed to reduce the other illustrations to even passable shape. I was also advised that those with a geographical or landscape content were the most suitable â even apart from my inability to draw anything else.
I now enclose 6 more.
3
They all are obviously defective, and quite apart from this may, each or some, present difficulties of reproduction. Also you may be quite unwilling to consider thus belatedly any more complications, and a change of plan. So that I shall be neither pained nor surprised if you return them, all or any. . . . .
I am yrs. truly,
J. R. R. Tolkien.
5 February 1937
[Concerning the reproduction of illustrations in
The Hobbit
.]
I approve the rough prints. Reduction has improved all except âthe Trolls'. On this there are one or two defects, probably simply due to the impression. I have marked them: the thin white outline of one of the background trees is slightly broken; some of the tiny dots outlining a flame have failed to come out; the dot after âTrolls.' also.
In the âHall at Bag-End' I misguidedly put in a wash shadow reaching right up to the side beam. This has of course come out black (with disappearance of the key) though not right up to the beam. But the print is I think as good as the original allows. Please note â these are not serious criticisms! I am still surprised that these indifferent pictures have been accepted at all, and that you have taken so much trouble with them â especially against economics (a factor I had not forgotten, and the reason for my originally forswearing illustrations).
[In mid-March, Tolkien returned the proofs of
The Hobbit
to Allen & Unwin, having marked them with a very large number of alterations to the original text. He was told that as a result he might have to pay part of the cost of correction, though the publishers noted that he had devised revisions which would occupy exactly the same space as the original text. With the following letter, he submitted a drawing for the dust-jacket, which included a runic inscription.]
13 April 1937
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sirs,
I return under separate cover the corrected
Revises
of
the Hobbit
, complete. . . . . I note what you so kindly say about the cost of corrections. I must pay what is just, if required; though I shall naturally be grateful for clemency. Thank you for your trouble & consideration. . . . .
You will find with the revised proofs a
draft of the jacket
, for your criticism. I discovered (as I anticipated) that it was rather beyond my craft and experience. But perhaps the general design would do?
I foresee the main objections.
There are too many colours: blue, green, red, black. (The 2 reds are an accident; the 2 greens inessential.) This could be met, with possible improvement, by substituting
white
for
red
; and omitting the sun, or drawing a line round it. The presence of the sun and moon in the sky together refers to the magic attaching to the door.
It is too complicated, and needs simplifying: e.g. by reducing the mountains to a single colour, and simplification of the jagged âfir-trees'. . . . .
In redrawing the whole thing could be reduced â if you think the runes are attractive. Though magical in appearance they merely run:
The Hobbit or There and Back Again, being the record of a year's journey made by Bilbo Baggins; compiled from his memoirs by J. R. R. Tolkien and published by George Allen & Unwin
. . . . .
Yrs truly
J. R. R. Tolkien.
[On 11 May, Allen & Unwin told Tolkien that they had interested âone of the outstanding firms of American publishers' in
The Hobbit
, and said that this firm âwould like a number of further illustrations in colour and suggested employing good American artists'. Allen & Unwin, however, thought âit would be better if all the illustrations were from your hand'.]
13 May 1937
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Mr Furth,
Thank you for the information concerning prospective American publication. Could you tell me the name of the firm, and what are likely to be the financial arrangements?
As for the illustrations: I am divided between knowledge of my own inability and fear of what American artists (doubtless of admirable skill) might produce. In any case I agree that all the illustrations ought to be by the same hand: four professional pictures would make my own amateurish productions look rather silly. I have some âpictures' in my drawer, but though they represent scenes from the mythology on the outskirts of which the Hobbit had his adventures, they do not really illustrate his story. The only possible one is the original coloured version of
Mirkwood
1
(re-drawn in black and white for âthe Hobbit'). I should have to try and draw some five or six others for the purpose. I will attempt this, as far as time allows in the middle of term, if you think it advisable. But I could not promise anything for some time. Perhaps the matter does not allow of much delay? It might be advisable, rather than lose the American interest, to let the Americans do what seems good to them â as long as it was possible (I should like to add) to veto anything from or influenced by the Disney studios (for all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing). I have seen American illustrations that suggest that excellent things might be produced â only too excellent for their companions. But perhaps you could tell me how long there is
before I must produce samples that might hope to satisfy Transatlantic juvenile taste (or its expert connoisseurs)?. . . .
Yours sincerely
J. R. R. Tolkien
[The publishers had suggested to Tolkien that
The Hobbit
should be published in October 1937, just after the beginning of the Michaelmas Term at Oxford. They also told him that they had forwarded his letter about illustrations (no. 13) to the Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston, Massachusetts, who were to publish the book in America.]
28 May 1937
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sirs,
. . . .
Date of publication
. This is, of course, your business, and entails many considerations outside my knowledge. In any case the final decision is now, I suppose, made; and America has also to be considered. But as far as G.B. is concerned, I cannot help thinking that you are possibly mistaken in taking Oxford University and its terms into account; and alternatively, if you do, in considering early October better than June. Most of O.U. will take no interest in such a story; that part of it that will is already clamouring, and indeed beginning to add The Hobbit to my long list of never-never procrastinations. As far as âlocal interest' is concerned it is probably at its peak (not that at its best it will amount to much reckoned in direct sales, I imagine). In any case late June between the last preparations for exams and the battle with scripts (affecting only a minority of seniors) is a quiescent interlude, when lighter reading is sought, for immediate use and for the vacation. October with the inrush of a new academic year is most distracted.
