TCG Letter #344

Tolkien confirms that Ancrene Wisse is at the press and should be available soon but this all depends on how quickly he can get the proofs back to them. He notes his poor health and other tasks, such as examinations, that may delay this.

In fact, this work was started as early as 1935 but would not be published until December 1962 owing to Tolkien's now famous inability to complete his work. In this instance Tolkien had insisted that the Early English Text Society print his edition exactly as the lines were presented in the original and for nearly 30 years Tolkien toiled with no apparent conclusion reached.