TCG Letter #267 / Carpenter Letter #115

Tolkien opens this letter with apologies for his delayed reply. He says that he must have appeared ungrateful, but not only was he grateful, he was excited to read Farrer's letter to him. He remarks that he has laboured on these stories (see below) since around 1914, no one besides Christopher, his son, and C.S. Lewis have been interested enough to read them and getting them published has remained unsuccessful. He has collected together some material that is readable, whoch he points out to mean "legible" and says that this "compendious history" or "Silmarillion" might be tolerable to her.

He says that the "long tales out of which it is drawn" are incomplete or not updated. Those are, The Fall of Gondolin, The Lay of Beren and Lúthien (verse), and The Children of Húrin. He could not find the 'Rings of Power' which has left him distressed as it is as he describes it (with the 'Fall of Númenor') the link to the world of The Hobbit from the Silmarillion.

He proposes to deliver some manuscripts to her to read.

This letter also exists in two drafts, which have not been described here. Those are published in Morgoth's Ring, see reference below for details.