TCG Letter #266 / Carpenter Letter #114

Tolkien expresses pleasure that Brogan enjoyed "The Hobbit" and mentions his ongoing work on a longer piece set in the same world,^{The Lord of the Rings[1]} providing details about the Necromancer and the mines of Moria. He explains the delay in publishing due to difficulties in writing the final chapters and a shortage of paper. Another short work, Farmer Giles of Ham, has been completed and is expected to be published soon.

Hammond/Scull note at the end of their entry for this letter that "Tolkien also mentions a ‘Professor’s “conference”’ in which he is taking part."^{Chronology, p. 351 [final sentence of entry for 7 April 1948][2]}