Dear Reverend Father

Who indeed? At least you have it now!

Beren, by chance did you acquire this letter from the same source as the Arthur Tolkien card you show in another post? Because I find it interesting that the envelope written by JRRT but now associated with the Arthur Tolkien card has a postmark with the same date -- 27 September 1936 -- as the letter to "Reverend Father". If this envelope and the letter in fact are meant to go together, then the letter is to the Reverend Professor Aurelius Pompen, Professor of English at the Catholic University of Nijmegen.

Wayne

No actually I did find the postcard in the envelope at a bookfair about 6 or 7 years ago...

And bought the letter about a year ago from the tolkienshop in Leiden.

I never thought to connect the two together, the one saying Referend Father, the other one Prof.

The envelope is small and the letter seems to only have one plee, like it had to sit in a larger envelope. But will look a bit closer this evening.

that would be a huge coincidence!

The envelope is addressed not only to "Professor" but to "Rev. Professor" (indeed, to "Rev. Professor Dr."). The "Rev." in addition to the postmark date makes it very suggestive.

If the envelope does belong with the letter, it would seem, then, that they once had a common owner but were separated in the marketplace. Such things do happen.

Wayne

will be checking it out this evening.. now that would be a pleasant surprise! it would mean that I can reunite two items after more then 6 years (or more before) of separation.

Would that link the card to the letter? or Tolkien's father and Tolkien had the same connection??

Great news! I did check the size of the letter (pleed together) and the enveloppe, and they match perfectly.

This is really amazing; an envelope and a letter coming back together like this. Wonderful and thanks Wayne. I still cannot believe I have the items here for over a year and never did make the connection...

Great I decided to scan the items and ask about them. This is very wonderful... i'm happy and stunned. So, as of now they are re-united.

What an incredible story (no sarcasm here!) Coincidence indeed! A positively exciting book collectors story. Just as well you posted them Beren. Good stuff. Incredibly envious...

BH

Well, it is incredible indeed... cannot believe it myself. But everything points to it that they belong together. Date the same, both mentioning Rev. And the letter fits in perfectly (although I have put it flat again of course, and will not leave it sit in the envelope).

It is a crazy collector tale, one to be remembered and told for many years to come! Coming home I rushed to my Tolkien letters to find the envelope and the letter. I was still thinking the letter was bigger then the envelope... somehow I remembered it to be a bit larger. But no, it was much smaller then I expected and holding it against the envelope I knew Wayne was right. I could have jumped up of excitement.

I did immediatly show my wife and then (after carefully putting it away again) took my family to go out and eat. Like a little celebration. I'm sooo happy to have the items reunited and I can't believe how both items ended up in my collection. Never expected something like this!

Beren,

Glad I could help.

In regard to why the letter was separated from its envelope and the envelope paired with the card, Christina wonders if it was because the previous owner of the items decided to "sweeten" the Arthur Tolkien card by selling it with a piece of JRRT manuscript, whereas the JRRT autograph letter could be sold on its own, sans envelope.

Wayne