Bonhams Fine Books & Manuscripts 22 June 2023, 12:00 EDT New York

You should always exercise good judgement and perform appropriate due-diligence when acquiring signed items to ensure that you are satisfied with the provenance and integrity of any item you bid on.

Lot 152 TOLKIEN ON THE TWO TOWERS AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. Autograph Letter Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien") to Miss F.L. Perry expressing his fears for the reception of The Two Towers, 4 pp, 170 x 132 mm, 76 Sandfield Road stationery, November 22, 1954, old folds, light staining.

A REMARKABLE TOLKIEN LETTER EXPRESSING CONCERN UPON PUBLICATION OF THE TWO TOWERS. A nervous Tolkien had written to Miss Perry about her thoughts on The Two Towers, and notes that he had been "anxious about one or two points: especially about the return of Gandalf; and generally: whether my friends would feel a falling off on a failure of their expectations; or feel they had had enough after the novelty wore off, and perhaps regret the decrease in hobbitry and elvishness: as the darkness increase and war and terror come out of the East."

Her enthusiasm for the work had apparently eased his mind, and he continues discussing his work on the Chronicles, concluding with an observation on the foundational theme of The Lord of the Rings. Discussing a treasured long narrative poem on the Battle of Malvern, he writes that it "is really on the theme which has always engrossed me and is the foundation of The Lord of the Rings: the noble and the ignoble. For hobbitry, you have the plain farmer-soldiers; for the chivalry, a young minstrel or poet...."

Miss F.L. Perry was the first fan to send Tolkien a letter regarding the new book The Lord of the Rings, the sequel to The Hobbit, as he wrote to her in a letter dated August 6, 1954.

Tolkien enjoyed receiving letters from enthusiastic fans at the time and did not find replying to be a burden (see Hammond & Scull, A Tolkien Companion and Guide, 2006, p 437). Tolkien and Miss Perry exchanged a number of letters documenting his feelings during publication, and continued correspondence until at least 1961. He clearly valued her opinion. See lots 147-150 in this sale.

Estimate US$8,000 - US$12,000
Sold for US$19,200 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... eption-of-the-two-towers/

Lot 151 TOLKIEN ON THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. Autograph Letter Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien") to Miss F.L. Perry on the reception and writing of The Lord of the Rings, 2 pp, 170 x 133 mm, on a single sheet of 76 Sandfield Road stationery, September 20, 1954, old fold, minor staining.

TOLKIEN WRITES TO MISS PERRY ON THE RECEPTION OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING AND ON THE WRITING OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS. He begins noting a few less than favorable reviews, "the lowest depths being reached by master Peter Green in the D. Telegraph"), but importantly mentions his friend C.S. Lewis's "essay" in Time and Tide: "However, I cannot complain, as I have had some write-ups (which even my vanity suspects of being too good) of remarkable appreciation (and length): chief the 'essay' in Time and Tide by C.S. Lewis (not C. Day Lewis!), but others as widely distributed as the New Statesman, Truth, and Country Life."

He ends with a beautifully expressed note on the creative composition of his burgeoning masterpiece: "I do not think you can possibly have any inkling of what you are in for, as at the point you have reached, I had none myself. The whole process was far more like deciphering the pages (disordered) of a history, and of finding out what was there and did happen, than of 'invention.' Of that I had no experience — except in parts discarded as wrong."

Miss F.L. Perry was the first fan to send Tolkien a letter regarding the new book The Lord of the Rings, the sequel to The Hobbit, as he wrote to her in a letter dated August 6, 1954.

Tolkien enjoyed receiving letters from enthusiastic fans at the time and did not find replying to be a burden (see Hammond & Scull, A Tolkien Companion and Guide, 2006, p 437). Tolkien and Miss Perry exchanged a number of letters documenting his feelings during publication, and continued correspondence until at least 1961. He clearly valued her opinion. See lots 147-150 in this sale.

Estimate US$8,000 - US$12,000
Sold for US$16,640 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... of-the-lord-of-the-rings/

Lot 150 TOLKIEN ON THE EVE OF PUBLICATION OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. Typed Letter Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien") to Miss F.L. Perry anticipating publication of Lord of the Rings, 2 pp, on a half-sheet of 76 Sandfield Road stationery, December 2, 1953.

TOLKIEN ON THE EVE OF PUBLICATION OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS, explaining the publication delay via his illness not allowing him to complete the maps and adjuncts. He continues, expressing his fears for the work: "Alas! Having put so much into this sequel, it has grown to such a large book that size and cost alone will, I fear, keep it out of many hands that would enjoy it. But I hear the Americans are taking it up, after seeing an advance copy of Vol. I, and I am told that may make a larger issue and a lower price possible on the side of the Water ... There is no more about Mirkwood, or the Northern countries, I am afraid; and the story moves away down the Great River to the Kingdoms of the South. But there is a great deal of Ancient History and geography and genealogy in it: too much, I dare say, for all but the most devoted friends of Hobbits."

Miss F.L. Perry was the first fan to send Tolkien a letter regarding the new book The Lord of the Rings, the sequel to The Hobbit, as he wrote to her in a letter dated August 6, 1954. Tolkien enjoyed receiving letters from enthusiastic fans at the time and did not find replying to be a burden (see Hammond & Scull, A Tolkien Companion and Guide, 2006, p 437). Tolkien and Miss Perry exchanged a number of letters documenting his feelings during publication, and continued correspondence until at least 1961. He clearly valued her opinion. See lots 147-150 in this sale.

Estimate US$6,000 - US$8,000
Sold for US$12,800 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... ion-of-lord-of-the-rings/

Lot 153 TOLKIEN ON THE LABOR OF LORD OF THE RINGS.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. Autograph Letter Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien") to Miss F.L. Perry describing his own hobbitness and the laborious creation of The Lord of the Rings, 4 pp, 8vo (170 x 132 mm), on 76 Sanfield Road letterhead, June 28, 1955, old folds.

A REMARKABLE LETTER IN WHICH HE DESCRIBES HIMSELF LIKE A HOBBIT, AND COMMENTS ON THE LABORIOUS WORK OF WRITING HIS MASTERPIECE. He begins with his description of a visit to Bumpus with Rayner Unwin at the behest of Mr. Wilson [John Gideon Wilson]. He calls Mr. Wilson, the head of Bumpus, "one of my major supporters, who has done more than any other one person to promote sales." He promises to send her a proof of vol 3.

Speaking of travelling and his family, he describes himself as a Hobbit: "Alas, I love men so little — en masse — that my own desire is for empty countries, though being far more timid and unadventurous than my desires, I do not really face the prospect of hardship or deprivation of familiar foods (and tobacco) with anything but alarm. This sounds a fair description of a hobbit! But I cannot claim to be one, since I have no confidence at all that I should prove 'tough at/or in a pinch'."

Responding to her note that his writing "gave the effect of ease," he describes for her how the writing of The Lord of the Rings actually felt: "the whole work was so laborious, and so often (at all points) rewritten: the actual sensation in process of composition, except for a few passages, was more like walking uphill in heavy boots against a strong wind with the light failing!"

Miss F.L. Perry was the first fan to send Tolkien a letter regarding the new book The Lord of the Rings, the sequel to The Hobbit, as he wrote to her in a letter dated August 6, 1954. Tolkien enjoyed receiving letters from enthusiastic fans at the time and did not find replying to be a burden (see Hammond & Scull, A Tolkien Companion and Guide, 2006, p 437). Tolkien and Miss Perry exchanged a number of letters documenting his feelings during publication, and continued correspondence until at least 1961. He clearly valued her opinion. See lots 147-150 in this sale.

Estimate US$10,000 - US$15,000
Sold for US$20,480 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... of-the-lord-of-the-rings/

Lot 156 TOLKIEN'S RING TRILOGY.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen & Unwin Limited, 1955-1957.
3 volumes, 8vo. Publisher's red cloth stamped in gilt on spines, pictorial dust jackets. Rubbed, jackets a bit soiled with a few creases and small tears to edges, spine panels sunned.

FIRST EDITION OF THE THIRD VOLUME, SIGNED BY TOLKIEN ("J.R.R. Tolkien") on the front free endpaper. The first two volumes, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers are fifth impressions, dated 1956 and 1957, respectively, while The Return of the King is a first edition, first impression, with signature "4" at the bottom of page 49.

Estimate US$2,000 - US$3,000
Sold for US$10,240 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... -unwin-limited-1955-1957/

Lot 155 2 Autograph Letters Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien"), both to a Miss Flint:

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. 1892-1973. 2 Autograph Letters Signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien"), both to a Miss Flint:
1. 2 pp, recto and verso, 8vo, on pale blue paper with embossed letterhead of 3 Manor Road, Holywell, Oxford, July 15, 1949. Tolkien writes: "I regret that I was away when you wrote and telephoned ... if you are still in Oxford, or likely to be back before, say, the middle of August I could see you. I should be interested to do so, though my connexion with your project is limited to a general approval of the kind of topic or probably a useful and welcome departure from the more common sort of B. Litt titles...."
2. 1 p, 8vo, on letterhead of Merton College, Oxford, August 19, 1949. "It seems to me that the more limited title that you now suggest, though probably difficult and rarified enough, ought to pass the Board ... Personally, I am only anxious that you should be able to "research" in the direction that you desire; as long as you are not landed in a task too complex for the purpose."

Tolkien lends his help and expertise to a fellow scholar rather than as a fiction writer. These letters emphasize that the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was first and foremost an intellectual — Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College at the time these letters were written, and previous to that Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College at Oxford.

Estimate US$2,000 - US$3,000
Sold for US$11,520 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... ien-both-to-a-miss-flint/

Lot 154 THE LORD OF THE RINGS SIGNED FIRST EDITIONS.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring. WITH: The Two Towers. WITH: The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954, 1955; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1956.
3 volumes. 8vo. Publisher's cloth. Dust jackets supplied in facsimile. Fellowship: minor wear to red cloth, light stain to cover, retaining front panel of jacket, lacking folding map. Two Towers: light wear to red cloth, front panel and flap of jacket preserved. Return: light soiling to blue cloth, foxing to prelims, front jacket flap preserved.

SIGNED FIRST EDITIONS OF ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS, each signed "J.R.R. Tolkien" to the front endpaper (Return of the King is the first American edition). Tolkien's masterpiece remains one of the most important literary feats of the 20th century, and Peter Jackson's blockbuster film adaptations have endeared the books to a new audience well into the 21st-century. Signed copies of the first editions are rare.

Estimate US$10,000 - US$15,000
Sold for US$35,840 inc. premium

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28392/ ... on-houghton-mifflin-1956/