By Urulókë
A Guide to the changes made in Carpenter's revised Letters
5 Nov, 2023
(edited)
2023-11-5 5:08:41 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-5 5:13:44 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-6 8:09:53 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-7 5:34:45 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-9 5:50:16 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-9 5:50:53 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-6 8:09:53 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-7 5:34:45 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-9 5:50:16 PM UTC
Edited by Urulókë on 2023-11-9 5:50:53 PM UTC
2023-11-5 5:08:41 PM UTC
This is not our full review (publishing on Thursday) but this PDF document does contain spoilers for the contents of the revised edition of Carpenter's Letters of JRR Tolkien. It is meant as a quick guide only, and has brief (and rather dry) summaries of the new and updated letters. As copies of the book have been shipped by the publisher and some retailers and many people now have copies in hand, I am releasing this a bit before the official publication date. I hope this is useful! I will update the document to have Guide links for all of the letters when those go live on the 9th.
TCG Guide to Carpenters Revised Tolkien Letters Changes 2023-11-09.pdf
Also be sure to tune in to our livestream on Friday November 10th where we will talk in depth about the new edition and our Guide to Tolkien Letters.
TCG Guide to Carpenters Revised Tolkien Letters Changes 2023-11-09.pdf
Livestream 10th November
Also be sure to tune in to our livestream on Friday November 10th where we will talk in depth about the new edition and our Guide to Tolkien Letters.
And if you don't find this useful, or have a suggestion as to how we could improve it...please let us know.
Have published a rather heavily updated version of the Guide PDF, you should definitely download the new version if you had the prior one. Thanks for all the help in making improvements to many people!
TCG Guide to Carpenters Revised Tolkien Letters Changes 2023-11-07.pdf [Admin: link removed as has been updated with a new revision]
The "changes" PDF has been updated today with a few very minor edits for clarity, but also adding links from each letter summary to the relevant online Guide to Tolkien's Letters page. If you've already downloaded the PDF, I think this version is worth grabbing. This is likely the last/final version of the document (knock on wood).
TCG Guide to Carpenters Revised Tolkien Letters Changes 2023-11-09.pdf
The updated Guide is getting some great feedback in the wild already. Thank you all for your support.
TCG Guide to Carpenters Revised Tolkien Letters Changes 2023-11-09.pdf
The updated Guide is getting some great feedback in the wild already. Thank you all for your support.
Guest Announcement for the Livestream tonight
- Dr Sara Brown - https://sarabrown.academia.edu/
- Putri Prihatini - https://putri2wotan.wordpress.com/
- Dr Kristine Larsen - https://ccsuniverse.wordpress.com/
- Brian Sibley - https://www.briansibley.com/
and depending on time, we may have some others
Here is a list of minor changes I noted (Typos are recorded in another thread).
Corrections to Tolkien's text:
#15 FN: Northern myth in _The Hobbit_ > Northern myth of _The Hobbit_
#112, 115, 148, 157, 173, 196: Katherine > Katharine
#131: there are love-stories touched in > these are touched in love-stories
#145: I showed your draft to Geoffrey > I showed your draft notice to Geoffrey [The latter form is used in _Reader's Companion_ and _Companion and Guide_.]
#152: 22 September 1954 > 23 September 1954
#165: while in the Humber Garrison in 1918 > 1917 [Related to the dating of Edith's dance.]
#165: horses of the Rohirrim > horns of the Rohirrim [Already noted in _Reader's Companion_]
#209: he can make the sense-jump [seems>]seem less impossible
#211: Ar-Pharazôn...conquered [a>]or terrified Sauron’s subjects, not Sauron. [Already corrected in _Reader's Companion_]
#211: woodland _leg_ > woodland _lêg_
#329: succeded > succeeded
#341: [Fellow>]Fellows and members
Corrections in #131 compared to the part quoted in _Reader's Companion_ (The latter forms are also used in _Tolkien: Les racines du légendaire_)
In the last pages of this Book we see the hopeless defeat of the forlorn hope. > In the last pages of this Book we see the hopeless defeat of the forlorn hope. Surrounded, hopelessly outnumbered, they await the end.
gaining of wisdom > Wisdom
_αριστεία_ > _ἀριστεία_
no longer possesses > possessed
whole appalling will > Will
unnatural prolongation. > unnatural prolongation of life.
enhancement of bounty > beauty
Changes in editor notes (end notes added for new contents are not included):
#9: No further correspondence survives until the following letter. By the time that Tolkien wrote it, the book had been accepted for publication, and he was already preparing maps and illustrations. > On 30 October, Unwin’s son Rayner, aged 10, wrote a favourable review of the book, and by the time of the following letter it had been accepted for publication, and Tolkien was already preparing maps and illustrations.
#16: Tolkien’s second son Michael, now aged sixteen, was a pupil at the Oratory School in Berkshire, together with his younger brother Christopher. He was hoping to get into the school rugby football team. > Tolkien’s second son, Michael, was hoping to get into the Oratory School’s rugby football team. [His age was already given in introduction to 8c]
#17: Add EN on Regius Professor of Modern History, Joseph Vendryes.
#32: Add EN on Nevill Coghill.
#43: Add "Michael had evidently revealed his attachment to Joan Griffiths, a nurse at Worcester’s Royal Infirmary, who he would go on to marry." in introduction.
#46: EN on Abercrombie is moved to the new passage in #8.
#52: Shorter introduction as already explained in previous letters.
#52 EN: unpublished poem ‘Mythopoeia’ > poem ‘Mythopoeia’
#55: EN on Poptawski moved to #53a.
#56: For ‘The Useless Quack’, see the introductory note to no. 48. > For ‘The Useless Quack’, see no. 42c and the introductory note to no. 48.
#60: EN on Warnie moved to #42c. EN on Mrs. C. moved to #59a. Add EN on C.W. (The abbreviation appeared so many times in the original _Letters_ yet remained unglossed!)
#69: EN on Fr C. moved to #42c.
#72: EN on Section Papers moved to #71b.
#81 EN: Another letter to Christopher Tolkien, dated 22 September 1943, refers to Lewis’s ‘new translation in rhymed alexandrines of the Aeneid’. It was not published. > See also no. 49e.
#83: EN on ‘Jack’ moved to #48 and dropped the Warnie part. EN: Sir William Walton (b. 1902). > (b. 1902–1983).
#107 EN: Nothing is known of this person’s identity. > Richard ‘Horus’ Engels (1914–1991) was a German painter whose illustrations eventually appeared in the first German translation of The Hobbit in 1957.
#133 EN: (To Donald Swann, 14 October 1966.) > See no. 289c.
#147: in the previous letter > in no. 146.
#153: Add EN after "ex quo".
#166: Remove "He sent back this page with the symbols drawn in by hand, whereupon the printers reproduced this rough drawing in facsimile, which was not what he had intended; his wish was that they should set up the phonetic symbols in type" in introduction, as #165b is now published.
#201: Introduction moved to #200a.
#203 EN: _Mallorn_ > _Mythlore_
#205 EN: (The Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings has the erroneous reading ‘omentilmo’.) > (The Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings originally had the erroneous reading ‘omentilmo’ but was later corrected.)
#206 Intro: At the end of March 1958, Tolkien visited Holland at the invitation of the Rotterdam > For his visit to Rotterdam at the end of March 1958, at the invitation of
#211: Add EN: Tolkien appears to be confusing their ancestry with that of their father, Elrond, and his brother, Elros.
#238 EN: Add "That same year he would publish Books with Men Behind Them, a collection of essays on writers such as Tolkien and his fellow Inklings, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams." for Edmund Fuller.
#270 EN: The offices of the Houghton Mifflin Co. are in Boston, Mass. > The offices of the Houghton Mifflin Co. were, at that time, in Boston, Mass.
#295 EN: A long unpublished poem entitled ‘Volsungakviða En Nyja’ > A long poem entitled ‘Volsungakviða En Nyja’...and published posthumously.
Corrections to Tolkien's text:
#15 FN: Northern myth in _The Hobbit_ > Northern myth of _The Hobbit_
#112, 115, 148, 157, 173, 196: Katherine > Katharine
#131: there are love-stories touched in > these are touched in love-stories
#145: I showed your draft to Geoffrey > I showed your draft notice to Geoffrey [The latter form is used in _Reader's Companion_ and _Companion and Guide_.]
#152: 22 September 1954 > 23 September 1954
#165: while in the Humber Garrison in 1918 > 1917 [Related to the dating of Edith's dance.]
#165: horses of the Rohirrim > horns of the Rohirrim [Already noted in _Reader's Companion_]
#209: he can make the sense-jump [seems>]seem less impossible
#211: Ar-Pharazôn...conquered [a>]or terrified Sauron’s subjects, not Sauron. [Already corrected in _Reader's Companion_]
#211: woodland _leg_ > woodland _lêg_
#329: succeded > succeeded
#341: [Fellow>]Fellows and members
Corrections in #131 compared to the part quoted in _Reader's Companion_ (The latter forms are also used in _Tolkien: Les racines du légendaire_)
In the last pages of this Book we see the hopeless defeat of the forlorn hope. > In the last pages of this Book we see the hopeless defeat of the forlorn hope. Surrounded, hopelessly outnumbered, they await the end.
gaining of wisdom > Wisdom
_αριστεία_ > _ἀριστεία_
no longer possesses > possessed
whole appalling will > Will
unnatural prolongation. > unnatural prolongation of life.
enhancement of bounty > beauty
Changes in editor notes (end notes added for new contents are not included):
#9: No further correspondence survives until the following letter. By the time that Tolkien wrote it, the book had been accepted for publication, and he was already preparing maps and illustrations. > On 30 October, Unwin’s son Rayner, aged 10, wrote a favourable review of the book, and by the time of the following letter it had been accepted for publication, and Tolkien was already preparing maps and illustrations.
#16: Tolkien’s second son Michael, now aged sixteen, was a pupil at the Oratory School in Berkshire, together with his younger brother Christopher. He was hoping to get into the school rugby football team. > Tolkien’s second son, Michael, was hoping to get into the Oratory School’s rugby football team. [His age was already given in introduction to 8c]
#17: Add EN on Regius Professor of Modern History, Joseph Vendryes.
#32: Add EN on Nevill Coghill.
#43: Add "Michael had evidently revealed his attachment to Joan Griffiths, a nurse at Worcester’s Royal Infirmary, who he would go on to marry." in introduction.
#46: EN on Abercrombie is moved to the new passage in #8.
#52: Shorter introduction as already explained in previous letters.
#52 EN: unpublished poem ‘Mythopoeia’ > poem ‘Mythopoeia’
#55: EN on Poptawski moved to #53a.
#56: For ‘The Useless Quack’, see the introductory note to no. 48. > For ‘The Useless Quack’, see no. 42c and the introductory note to no. 48.
#60: EN on Warnie moved to #42c. EN on Mrs. C. moved to #59a. Add EN on C.W. (The abbreviation appeared so many times in the original _Letters_ yet remained unglossed!)
#69: EN on Fr C. moved to #42c.
#72: EN on Section Papers moved to #71b.
#81 EN: Another letter to Christopher Tolkien, dated 22 September 1943, refers to Lewis’s ‘new translation in rhymed alexandrines of the Aeneid’. It was not published. > See also no. 49e.
#83: EN on ‘Jack’ moved to #48 and dropped the Warnie part. EN: Sir William Walton (b. 1902). > (b. 1902–1983).
#107 EN: Nothing is known of this person’s identity. > Richard ‘Horus’ Engels (1914–1991) was a German painter whose illustrations eventually appeared in the first German translation of The Hobbit in 1957.
#133 EN: (To Donald Swann, 14 October 1966.) > See no. 289c.
#147: in the previous letter > in no. 146.
#153: Add EN after "ex quo".
#166: Remove "He sent back this page with the symbols drawn in by hand, whereupon the printers reproduced this rough drawing in facsimile, which was not what he had intended; his wish was that they should set up the phonetic symbols in type" in introduction, as #165b is now published.
#201: Introduction moved to #200a.
#203 EN: _Mallorn_ > _Mythlore_
#205 EN: (The Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings has the erroneous reading ‘omentilmo’.) > (The Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings originally had the erroneous reading ‘omentilmo’ but was later corrected.)
#206 Intro: At the end of March 1958, Tolkien visited Holland at the invitation of the Rotterdam > For his visit to Rotterdam at the end of March 1958, at the invitation of
#211: Add EN: Tolkien appears to be confusing their ancestry with that of their father, Elrond, and his brother, Elros.
#238 EN: Add "That same year he would publish Books with Men Behind Them, a collection of essays on writers such as Tolkien and his fellow Inklings, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams." for Edmund Fuller.
#270 EN: The offices of the Houghton Mifflin Co. are in Boston, Mass. > The offices of the Houghton Mifflin Co. were, at that time, in Boston, Mass.
#295 EN: A long unpublished poem entitled ‘Volsungakviða En Nyja’ > A long poem entitled ‘Volsungakviða En Nyja’...and published posthumously.