Something that makes me spit feathers is that Mr Curtin - whom the Irish Sun newspaper calls 'a leading expert' - says that Tolkien based his book on Ireland, but had to tone down the Irishness so as not to upset the sensibilities of his predominently English readers. And that he'd admitted the irish connections later in life.

Balls.

garm wrote:
I believe the gent said he was studying at Oxford in the sixties, when he attended lectures by Tolkien. We know that JRR retired in 1959, but I've heard or read that he stood in for his successor now and again.

Interesting, so getting the book from Tolkien may also not be true.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!"
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.

garm wrote:
Something that makes me spit feathers is that Mr Curtin - whom the Irish Sun newspaper calls 'a leading expert' - says that Tolkien based his book on Ireland, but had to tone down the Irishness so as not to upset the sensibilities of his predominently English readers. And that he'd admitted the irish connections later in life.

Balls.

I agree, complete rubbish, you only need to do some cursory reading of Tolkien, Letters shows this quite well, to see this is wrong.

In one post, the Burren Tolkien Society repeat almost verbatim part of a letter which Tolkien wrote to his grandson about Ireland, as published in Scull & hammond Vol.II under 'Ireland'. They give the name of the grandson as 'George Christopher'. Despite the fact that the book they were copying from actually gives the correct name!

Edit: Page 431 of the Reader's Guide

Trotter

Oh, and Tolkien might have gotten the idea of Gollum from a cave in Ireland. Which he didn't visit till 1949. And The Hobbit was published in... 1933. I quote:

"For many years now there has been words written about the character of Gollum who appears in 'The Hobbit' book published in 1933 but whom I'm told only gets a more developed persona in 'The Lord of the Rings'.

The Burren is home to the largest cave system in Ireland... It comprises of 15 miles of underground passages. This entrance is called Pol na gColm (translated from the Irish as the Hole of Gollum). The 'Book of the Burren' by Ann Korff, says 'Gollum' in Irish means 'rock dove'.. Of course the other coincidence is that rock doves make a guttural sound, same as Gollum in the book. "

see here: http://www.worldirish.com/story/30506 ... 3-reasons-why-it-might-be

And how long before he proposes that the name Burren is the origin of the name Beorn or the nearby town of Ruan is the origin of the name Rohan.

Mr. Curtin contacted me last month about the copy of Tree and Leaf. I replied, in part, addressing several points made on the website: "All copies of Tree and Leaf in its first edition contain a printed facsimile Tolkien signature on the title-page, as shown in the video. My wife and I have in our Tolkien collection multiple copies of multiple printings of Tree and Leaf, and the facsimile signature is present from the first through at least the eighth impression of the hardback and the ninth of the paperback. Although both the hardback and paperback editions of Tree and Leaf were published simultaneously (from identical sheets), on 28 May 1964, the work was originally conceived by George Allen & Unwin for publication in its 'Unwin Books' (or 'U Books') paperback series, a feature of which was a facsimile signature of the author printed on the title-page. The same Tolkien signature appears as well in the Unwin Books edition of The Hobbit (1966)."

As for Tolkien returning to teach at Oxford, standing in for a colleague, Christina and I know of only one instance, during Michaelmas Term 1962 and Hilary Term 1963 (i.e. the end of 1962 and beginning of 1963), when C.L. Wrenn went on sabbatical. Of this Tolkien wrote to Rayner Unwin: "the return to lecturing . . . has proved a much greater burden than I expected. It has taken much more work than I guessed to shake the dust of seventeen years off matter which I once thought I knew". See Chronology, pp. 599 ff. At this time of course Tree and Leaf was not yet published; but one could still speculate about circumstances in which Mr. Prince could have received a copy from Tolkien.

Wayne

My wife and I have in our Tolkien collection multiple copies of multiple printings of Tree and Leaf...
--Findegil

He probably read that & thought I think Mr Hammond's exaggerating slightly there...

BH

Khamûl wrote:

My wife and I have in our Tolkien collection multiple copies of multiple printings of Tree and Leaf...
--Findegil

He probably read that & thought I think Mr Hammond's exaggerating slightly there...

BH

Depressingly, I don't have any copies of any printings of Tree and Leaf.

A situation that I intend to remedy at some point !

Findegil wrote:
Mr. Curtin contacted me last month about the copy of Tree and Leaf. I replied, in part, addressing several points made on the website: "All copies of Tree and Leaf in its first edition contain a printed facsimile Tolkien signature on the title-page, as shown in the video. My wife and I have in our Tolkien collection multiple copies of multiple printings of Tree and Leaf, and the facsimile signature is present from the first through at least the eighth impression of the hardback and the ninth of the paperback. Although both the hardback and paperback editions of Tree and Leaf were published simultaneously (from identical sheets), on 28 May 1964, the work was originally conceived by George Allen & Unwin for publication in its 'Unwin Books' (or 'U Books') paperback series, a feature of which was a facsimile signature of the author printed on the title-page. The same Tolkien signature appears as well in the Unwin Books edition of The Hobbit (1966)."

Wayne

Wayne thanks for this but i wonder why no notice of your email was taken, he acknowledged my comments on the book's printed signature as if it was new information and that he had not heard it before.

I told him nothing that was not better expressed in your email.