TCG Letter #73

A Philologist on Esperanto is the title given to a letter (written in the early part of 1932) from J.R.R. Tolkien to the secretary of the Education Committee of the British Esperanto Association for its publication in The British Esperantist (Vol.28, May 1932).

Tolkien states that he is the latest member of the Board of Honorary Advisors of the B.E.A. Education Committee. Tolkien takes an interest in Esperanto among many languages but has no real life experience with it, a curious remark considering he wrote in it and could read it. Why he suggested he would be of no use is odd.

Tolkien suggests that Esperanto is more useful than other languages like it, given its wide use. Acceptance of the language being its hardest problem to solve. Tolkien says that the tinkering of those like him could have a negative effect on the advancement of it. Tolkien finishes by offering his support for Esperanto and suggests other do as well.^{For more information see 'The Educational Value of Esperanto: The word of Tolkien in The British Esperantist 1933' by Oronzo Cilli, http://www.tolkienbooks.net/php/esperanto.php and the entire letter is published in the journal VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center and can be read online with a free membership at https://www.jstor.org/stable/45296768[1] A transcript of the letter from Tolkien to The British Esperantist, 1932 is held at the Bodleian Library archives, 'MS. Eng. c. 2724, fol. 80'.[2]}