Aside from the serious practical matter of the time required for soliciting (from owners), collecting, and editing still-unpublished letters, I should think the main reason that there hasn't been a second volume of letters to date is simply that Harper Collins (the presumed publisher, and the one most likely to be authorized by the Tolkien Estate), and A&U etc. before them, hadn't deemed it commercially viable. The first edition of Letters took a long time to become a decent seller, I think, and probably not until it was released in paperback. (I remember the huge stacks of remaindered copies of the first US hardcover edition selling for $1 each in the early 1980s.) The calculus has now obviously changed enough to result in today's new, revised and expanded edition. Perhaps now, and especially if this new edition proves to be a strong seller, a second volume might be deemed feasible. Time will tell.

Olorin, would you direct me to where I may find information about a 4th volume of C. S. Lewis letters?

In addition to what others have said, it requires someone to do the work of gathering the letters, organizing, editing, and preparing them for publication. Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher are gone. Harper Collins is not going to do that time-intensive and costly work unless they believe there's a fortune to be made as a result, which past publication history of the Letters has not thus far indicated. So it would also require someone with sufficient stature and experience with Tolkien's works to want to do this project, have the time and resources to do it, and get the approval of the Estate to do it.

I dearly hope one day we get a "Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien" series, with thousands of Tolkien's letters, the way we have for Lewis. But even Lewis, who died 60 years ago and had an estate executor who sought to put much of his work in the public eye, still has many unpublished letters and even 11 volumes of The Lewis Family Papers (https://archives.wheaton.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/85959), which remain unpublished.

In partnership with our friends at TheOneRing.net, our review (condensed and with some additional material from their staff) is available for your enjoyment there as well:

https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2023/ ... letters-of-j-r-r-tolkien/

Urulókë wrote:

The copyright for a letter always remains with the author of the letter. The recipient has no claim and cannot publish without the permission of the author (or prevent it from being published elsewhere by the author or the author’s estate).

In cases where Tolkien did not retain a copy though the recipient can stop it from being published by simply not allowing anyone to view the letter.

ibid wrote:

Urulókë wrote:

The copyright for a letter always remains with the author of the letter. The recipient has no claim and cannot publish without the permission of the author (or prevent it from being published elsewhere by the author or the author’s estate).

In cases where Tolkien did not retain a copy though the recipient can stop it from being published by simply not allowing anyone to view the letter.

Absolutely, we have faced the odd example of a closed door like this ourselves. Thankfully it is rare but some people do like to keep that hoarded treasure in a manner which seems Dragon-like.

Brilliant review and a great addition to my library. My only disappointment is with the physical nature of the book which is bound in such a way it will not lie flat and will need to be held open while reading. That said, it's not the sort of book you (or at least I) will read great chunks of at one sitting. I have started reading a couple per day and it's most enjoyable.

Does anyone know yet if they are considering a deluxe edition of this new edition of the Letters?

Tuor son of Huor wrote:

Does anyone know yet if they are considering a deluxe edition of this new edition of the Letters?

I think this may come up in our livestream today

How to get the TCG Letters tee?