TCG Letter #1845

C. A. Furth of GA&U writes to Tolkien on matters of his illustrations for The Hobbit. His drawings are admirable and blocks for them are being produced. It is noted that Mirkwood, shaded with an ink wash, "will present a little difficulty in reproduction – unless it were to be printed separately on glossy paper, which we think would be disturbing". The drawings other than 'The Front Gate' will need to be turned parallel to the spine. GA&U will try to display the 'moon-letters' on Thror's Map in a cunning way using a grey tone. Tolkien is asked where the illustrations should be sighted in the book.

Mr. Bliss, which Firth is returning, is a book that GA&U would like to publish but concerns over the print costs are proving prohibitive.

Tolkien is asked to redraw the illustrations in three colours, plus black to make them easier , and cheaper to reproduce.^{Hammond/Scull also note on this date that "Rayner Unwin enthusiastically reports on Farmer Giles of Ham and Roverandom. He thinks that both books need illustrations, and suggests that they might be published together." We do not currently know if this was in a letter to Tolkien, or an internal memo at GA&U so have not assigned it a unique entry until such a time that we know what this report consists of.[1]}