Sotheby's Auction
18 June - By Foxrook
Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2
Closes Thu, 26 Jun 2025 6:52 PM GMT
Lot 1052
Estimate USD 15,000 - 25,000
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auctio ... em_7sqiO1_BS9nGtCY3joFYsQ
Closes Thu, 26 Jun 2025 6:52 PM GMT
Lot 1052
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937
8vo (189 x 132 mm). Frontispiece and 9 illustrations by the author, including the two maps printed in red and black; occasional very light spotting. Publisher’s green cloth, first issue dust-jacket printed in black, green, blue, and white, designed by Tolkien with “Dodgeson” spelling on rear flap; cocked, head and foot of spine bumped with some exposure, pastedowns a little toned, spine panel of dust-jacket darkened and chipped at head and foot, edges with some creasing and short tears, joints worn and nearly detached in places.
First edition, first impression—an unrestored copy of this masterpiece of twentieth-century fantasy, complete with the rare first issue dust-jacket.
Tolkien began The Hobbit while a professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford, drawing inspiration from his childhood in rural England, the devastation of the Great War, and his deep academic engagement with Norse and Germanic philology. Though first marketed as a children’s story, the book quickly found a broader readership and sold out within three months of publication. It introduced readers to the richly imagined world of Middle-earth and launched Tolkien’s literary saga.
Tolkien’s vision was grounded in the traditions of George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, and the Arabian Nights. He invented entire languages, histories, and mythologies, setting a new standard for modern fantasy literature. As C.S. Lewis, his Oxford colleague and close friend, wrote in his review: “The Hobbit will be funnier to its youngest readers, and only years later… will they begin to realize what deft scholarship and profound reflection have gone to make everything in it so ripe, so friendly, and in its way so true.”
REFERENCES:
Hammond A3a
Estimate USD 15,000 - 25,000
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auctio ... em_7sqiO1_BS9nGtCY3joFYsQ
Treasured Exhibition - Bodleian Library
13 June - By Trotter
6 June – 26 October 2025
ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library
Free admission, no ticket required
About the exhibition
What makes a treasure? Is it age, rarity, beauty – or something else?
Treasured invites you to explore the meaning of value itself through some of the world’s most remarkable books and manuscripts, several of which were acquired with the help of the Friends of the Bodleian which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025.
This exhibition showcases some of the renowned items from Bodleian collections – the Romance of Alexander, the Gutenberg Bible, manuscripts of Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien and the Herculaneum scroll – alongside objects from around the world. It shines a light on the human stories behind the books and manuscripts which have shaped our intellectual heritage, and the hearts and minds of those who cherish them.
Come and see for yourself and find out what you treasure most!
Curators
- Andrew Dunning, R.W. Hunt Curator of Medieval Manuscripts
- Lydia Heeley, Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography
- Nicholas Kontovas, Nizami Ganjavi Curator for the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Türkiye
- Peter Toth, Cornelia Starks Curator of Greek Collections
- Boya Zhang, K.B. Chen China Centre Library
Tolkien items on display.
The first page of the letter from Father Christmas and the accompanying drawing, 1928
MS. Tolkien Drawings 83, fol. 8r and MS. Tolkien Drawings 49.
Letter from Father Christmas to John, Michael and Christopher Tolkien • 20 December 1928 (#1940)
https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/ ... =7QRX,X38W,378TT3,2L1SA,1
Dominic Winters Auction
7 June - By Trotter
19th June 2025
Lot 794
Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
Sold for GBP 12,810 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 86-42ac-8308-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 795
Estimate GBP 500-800
Sold for GBP 2,440 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-461f-8b06-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 796
Estimate GBP 600-800
Sold for GBP 2,562 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 42-4282-9e0f-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 797
Letter from Joan Light to J.R.R. Tolkien • 8 September 1957 (#2473)
Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Joan Light • 12 September 1957 (#2472)
Estimate GBP 7-10,000
Sold for GBP 19,520 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 64-40c0-a4bf-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 798
Estimate GBP 2-300
Sold for GBP 1,098 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-4290-a6f3-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 794
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Hobbit or There and Back Again, 1st edition, 2nd impression, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937, 4 colour plates by the author, monochrome illustrations, map endpapers, advertisement at rear, light marginal dust-soiling to pp. 14-15, occasional minor spotting, bookseller ticket to front pastedown, original green pictorial cloth, price-clipped dust jacket, tear and loss at foot of front panel, closed tears at head of joints and along rear flap, tears and losses at folds, 8vo
QTY: (1)
NOTE:
Hammond A3a. The second impression was printed in the same year as the first, and the first to be illustrated in colour. A total of 2,300 copies were printed but some 400 held at the binder's London warehouse were destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940.
Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
Sold for GBP 12,810 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 86-42ac-8308-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 795
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Lord of the Rings, 3 volumes, limited edition, 6th printing, London: Folio Society, 2001, illustrations by Ingahild Grathmer after Eric Fraser, map endpapers, top edge gilt, original Wassa goatskin-backed silk boards, contained in original morocco slipcase, 8vo, together with The Hobbit, 7th printing, 2002, and The Silmarillion, 4th printing, 2003, Folio Society, uniformly bound in slipcases
QTY: (5)
NOTE:
Limited edition 505/1750.
Estimate GBP 500-800
Sold for GBP 2,440 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-461f-8b06-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 796
Tolkien (J. R. R.). The Hobbit, 1st edition, 4th impression, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946, colour frontispiece, black and white illustrations, pictorial endpapers, a few spots, original pictorial green cloth, some wear to spine, binding slightly cocked, 8vo
QTY: (1)
Estimate GBP 600-800
Sold for GBP 2,562 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 42-4282-9e0f-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 797
Letter from Joan Light to J.R.R. Tolkien • 8 September 1957 (#2473)
Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Joan Light • 12 September 1957 (#2472)
Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel, 1893-1973). English Writer, Poet, Philologist, and Academic. Autograph Letter Signed twice, ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ and ‘JRRT.’, 76 Sandfield Road, Headington, Oxford, 12 September 1957, to Miss [Joan] Light, in reply to her letter of gratitude to Tolkien and saying how his book [Lord of the Rings] has been such a help to her, in full: ‘Thank you very much in return. Most encouraging. I do get a good many letters, but not many in such terms. And I am tired of being labelled an "escapist". A recent reviewer (not of my books) offered the gratuitous opinion that "Tolkienery” is bad as it “withdraws from life". But it appeared that what he called "life" was limited to observation of the contemporary “orquerie”: to coin a word in rejoinder. It was very kind of you to cheer me up, and on!’, written in dark blue ink in a very neat hand on embossed letterhead stationery and signed ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ at the foot of the page, with a ‘PTO’ in his holograph to lower right corner, the second page continuing with an even longer note, signed with initials ‘JRRT.’ at foot, ‘There was one other useful feature of Hobbit-life (besides the unchanging calendar): there was, in fact, only one title of courtesy for all grown-ups, male or female. I am afraid in the "modernization" this is misrepresented on p. 38 (Vol I). Actually Master Everard and Miss Melilot would have been more accurately rendered G. Childe Everard etc. If I have chosen the wrong rendering in your case, forgive a poor old Shire-man. You might be amused to learn that there is actually a Sam Gamgee living in London. I had a rather puzzled letter from him. But I think he is happy now. So far no S. Gollum has turned up. That might be more awkward’, some light creasing near upper and lower margins and to left-hand corners, 2 pages, 8vo, with the original postmarked envelope (Oxford, 12 September 1957), addressed in Tolkien’s hand to Miss J. Light in Hampstead, together with:
A draft signed copy of Joan Light’s letter to Professor Tolkien, 8 September 1957, neatly written in pencil, in full: ‘Since the publication of "The Lord of the Rings" I have often wanted very much indeed to write and tell you how much I have enjoyed it, but I have never been able to bring myself to do so because I know how many such letters you must get of this kind, and I did not wish to trouble you. But as time passes I feel I must write to express, however inadequately, my real sense of gratitude to you for a work which has done so much to help me personally by proving in times of fear and great spiritual darkness, an inspiration by its theme of courage and loyalty. I hope you will not mind my writing to you in this way, but your book has been such a help to me that I felt I must say thank you’, 2 pages, 8vo
QTY: (2)
NOTE:
An exceptional, previously unpublished, and double-signed letter, full of interest, kindness, warmth and humour.
The direct reference to The Fellowship of the Ring, page 38, is to the names and courtesy titles that appear in line 3: ‘Master Everard Took and Miss Melilot Brandybuck got on a table and with bells in their hands began to dance the Springle-ring: a pretty dance, but rather vigorous.’
The coincidence of the real-life Sam Gamgee and Tolkien’s fear of a real-life S. Gollum is a topic that is recorded in previously known letters. J.R.R. Tolkien had taken the name of the character Gamgee from Gamgee Tissue, a surgical dressing invented by the Birmingham surgeon Joseph Sampson Gamgee (1828-1886).
Tolkien Gateway online:
‘Letter 184 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Following the 1955 radio series of The Lord of the Rings, a Tooting resident named "Sam Gamgee" wrote to Tolkien on 13 March 1956. On 18 March, Tolkien replied. He explained his own origin of the name Gamgee, and mentioned the Gamgee family of Birmingham. In his letter, Gamgee had already shown awareness of his family's name fame in the medical profession. Tolkien then asked for more information about the name, and offered a signed copy of The Lord of the Rings.
In an editorial note, further correspondence is mentioned. Gamgee wrote back with family information, and accepted the gift kindly. In J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, pages 224-225, this episode was also mentioned. It was followed by: "[l]ater he said: 'For some time I lived in fear of receiving a letter signed S. Gollum. That would have been more difficult to deal with.'" It is unclear where this specific passage is from, but a very similar one appears in an unpublished letter to Rayner Unwin from 21 March 1956: "I hope I shan’t now get letters from S. Gollum, or Shagrat."’
Gamgee's first letter from 13 March 1956 is reproduced in Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.’
Estimate GBP 7-10,000
Sold for GBP 19,520 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 64-40c0-a4bf-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 798
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 8th impression, 1959; The Two Towers, 6th impression, 1959; The Return of the King, 5th impression, 1959, folding map at end of each, a little minor spotting (mainly to fore-edges and endpapers), top edge red, original red cloth gilt, dust jackets, spines toned, a few short closed tears, contained in publisher's slipcase (some adhesive tape repairs and wear), 8vo
QTY: (3)
Estimate GBP 2-300
Sold for GBP 1,098 including premium
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-4290-a6f3-b2f4011db5b1
Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Death In Tolkien
4 June - By Trotter
A new HarperCollins book coming out in October.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings meets Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies in this darkly satirical illustrated parody of the Tolkien universe: ‘A is for Arwen broken by sorrows; B is for Boromir punctured by arrows. C is for Celebrimbor hung out to dry; D is for Denethor…'
‘Stories – frankly, human stories are always about one thing – death. The inevitability of death.’ J.R.R. TOLKIEN
A distinguished linguist and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as the father of the fantasy genre, drawing on his knowledge of legends and folklore to create a new mythology and write the ultimate epic novel. He populated his books with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Dragons and Dwarves, but as in all epic tales, there can be only one fate for Mortal Men…
Doomed to Die is a uniquely irreverent glance at the world of Tolkien. It started life as an innocent Inktober project, but somehow grew in the telling to become a book.
A bit more from HC about the book
Tom Racine is an illustrator, and the book is mostly illustrations. He’s known in some online circles for the ‘Wizard Blues’ cartoons https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the ... -rom/list?title_no=957997 Doomed to Die is based on a series of daily sketches he posted on Instagram for Inktober 2024 and has redrawn for the book.
UK
US
2025 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies
4 June - By Trotter
2025 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists Announced
The Mythopoeic Society has announced the finalists for the 2025 Mythopoeic Awards. For more information about the awards, visit the Awards section of this site; the finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this section. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at our Online Midsummer Seminar 2025, “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy,” which runs August 2-3, 2025, on Zoom and Discord.
Congratulations to all who were nominated.
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies
https://www.mythsoc.org/news/news-2025-06-02.htm
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10.98K