TCG Letter #1484 / Carpenter Letter #275a

Tolkien apologizes once again for being late in getting work to Rayner, this time revisions on the 3rd edition of The Hobbit. He says that many revisions are done to chapters 1 and 2 and that he has resisted the urge to "improve" The Hobbit.

He goes on to give some remarks on reader feedback he has gotten and how that affected the editing process. He also says that bringing it more in line and tone with the Lord of the Rings would be quite impossible at this point and he seems to lament this a bit and says he's done what he can.

In the Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition, 2023, Carpenter gives a reading that differs slightly from the excerpt given previously in Chronology, p. 674. The line beginning "I hope you will agree...", Carpenter gives "undetailed", whereas Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull give "understated". They also give a "is".

This letter is held at the 'Tolkien–George Allen & Unwin archive, HarperCollins'.