TCG Letter #12 / Carpenter Letter #12

Concerning Tolkien's corrections to the text of The Hobbit, the cost of those corrections, and who would incur that cost, as well as details of his submission dustjacket and runic inscription.

Hammond/Scull note some other details not found in the published letter.^{Chronology, pp. 207-8[1]} He doesn't like some changes made to the endpaper colours, but in the end accepts them. He laments the runes on Thror's Map are not well done, but there is not room for his "better drawn" ones. Tolkien believes that some of the illustrations are badly placed, but he cannot judge until the final results are seen.

Also in the letter (not reproduced by Carpenter or mentioned by Scull and Hammond but mostly reproduced in Hammond's Bibliography, pp. 11-12), Tolkien writes further about the dust jacket design, wondering if the lettering needs to be more clear and better placed, and wonders about the runic border placement and size. He asks if the submitted jacket "contains any hope", and says that he could redraw it on better paper in a day or two if needed.