Will be adding more about this Auction at the weekend, but there is another Letter in the Auction.

Lot 248

Letter link: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Arthur House • 15 May 1952 (#2269)

J.R.R. Tolkien

Autograph letter signed, to Arthur Humphry House, dated 16 May 1952, headed stationery of Merton College, Oxford, watermarked “Original Broadwall Mill”, 4 pages, 8vo, previously folded

[with:] Handwritten invitation, addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. House”, from “J.R.R. Tolkien and F.P. Wilson”, Friday 11 March, 5.30-7 (no year), punch hole to upper left corner

A SUBSTANTIAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, FRESH TO THE MARKET, SHOWING HOW TOLKIEN APPROACHED THE CHALLENGES OF ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION ACCORDING TO THE SAME EXACTING STANDARDS AS THE COMPOSITION OF HIS LITERARY WORKS.

By the 1950s, Tolkien’s reputation as the author of The Hobbit was well established, whilst he boasted a senior academic position at the University of Oxford as Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. Nonetheless, in the Spring of 1952, he wrangled with skeptical editors at Collins, who, put off by the epic length of Tolkien's latest literary forays into the world of Middle Earth, declined to publish both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. As this letter reveals, at this point in time Tolkien was also in the midst of a parallel struggle to cajole his colleagues into supporting overdue academic syllabus reforms.

Addressed to Arthur Humphry House (1908-1955), Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College, the letter responds to Tolkien's recent cancellation of a “F.M.” (Faculty Meeting) after a period of “serious reflection”. He notes that “By the date fixed (3/5/42) less than ⅓ of the Faculty had troubled to send in any proposals for lectures”, making it impossible for him to “present... an ordered list of proposals”. Whilst in Middle Earth the races of Men, Elves, and Dwarves meet without a summons to decide the fate of the One Ring at the Council of Elrond, in the real-life realm of academia Tolkien finds it challenging to gain consensus from his colleagues at a Faculty Meeting!

A stalwart of the Oxford English Faculty, Tolkien spent his career within a department divided between the cliques of English "Lang." and English "Lit."—a longstanding ideological division fuelled by personal animosities and strong, egotistical, characters. The letter notes with disapproval that “a great many of the proposals” put forward for discussion were “medieval and linguistic”, implicitly criticising those in the “Lit.” camp for refusing to engage with the programme of the committee. Tolkien complains about colleagues using Faculty Meetings as occasion for “mere gas-outlet, and emotional reactions” and concludes that he does “not at moment, feel frightfully pleased with Faculty of English”.

Tolkien here shows himself to be dedicated to the idea of modernising the undergraduate syllabus (“As for the second item of “business: the Preliminary. I think that it is important. The whole exam (Ling. and Lit.) needs an overhaul”) and is receptive to emerging talents in the Faculty. The two individuals he entrusts to send in “some considered proposals for the alteration of the Prelim.” are House (a precocious young Dickens scholar) and “Miss Gardner” (i.e. Dame Helen Gardner, who published the first of her acclaimed editions of Donne in 1952). Gardner went on to enjoy a long and glittering academic career, culminating in her appointment as the first female Merton Professor of English Literature, whereas House never had the chance to realise his full potential as a scholar, tragically dying when still in his mid-forties.

PROVENANCE:

Family of Arthur Humphry House, by direct descent

Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
Sold for GBP 7,200 including premium

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auctio ... h-letter-signed-to-arthur

This must be Humphry House, author of well-regarded though not long books on Coleridge and Dickens.

The letter would have twofold interest for me, not just on account of Tolkien.

We are still working on adding summaries, transcriptions, references, tags, etc to the Guide to Tolkien Letters. The summaries for these letters may mention that the item is held at the Wade, we are updating this to state copies are held at the Wade.

These are the letters in the Donald Swann sale

• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 7 June 1965 (#965)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 14 September 1965 (#966)
  
• Carpenter #277a: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 19 September 1965 (#1485)
  
• Letter from Claire Howard to J.R.R. Tolkien • 19 February 1966 (#2277)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 23 February 1966 (#967)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 9 March 1966 (#2271)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 17 March 1966 (#968)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 21 March 1966 (#969)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 28 March 1966 (#970)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 29 August 1966 (#971)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Swann and Flanders • 26 September 1966 (#2276)
  
• Carpenter #289c: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 14 October 1966 (#1014)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 18 November 1966 (#973)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Janet Swann • 11 January 1967 (#2272)
  
• Carpenter #294b: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 20 March 1967 (#974)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 21 March 1967 (#975)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 22 March 1967 (#2275)
  
• Carpenter #295a: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 12 April 1967 (#977)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 19 June 1967 (#978)
  
• Carpenter #295b: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 12-13 July 1967 (#979)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Tolkien to Donald Swann • 30 December 1967 (#980)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 12 February 1968 (#981)
  
• Carpenter #301: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 29 February 1968 (#674)
  
• Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald and Janet Swann • 18 January 1973 (#982)

Sotheby's describes the lot as "undoubtedly the most important cache of original Tolkien material relating to Middle Earth to come to the open market in many years". The estimate is £150,000 - £200,000.

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine ... auction-ps200000-estimate

It sold for 228,000 GBP

This is now for sale at Jonkers for 550,000 GBP

https://www.jonkers.co.uk/rare-book/15 ... nn-archive/j-r-r-tolkien.

Have you an idea if this manuscript is the back of one of the other letters displayed, or of a non-display one ?

We have transcribed all these letters, so if you wish to find out which letter it is, you can search for some of the text in the letter.

In this case, I searched for Oxford dining hall which occurs at the top of the manuscript.

https://www.tolkienguide.com/guide/letters/?q=oxford+dining+hall

It is Carpenter #301: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Donald Swann • 29 February 1968 (#674), you can't however see what page it is, but this the 4th and final page of the letter.

Thanks... and sorry, I didn't even think about searching in the Letters' tool.