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TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
Typed letter signed ("J.R.R. Tolkien"), to Justin Arundale ("Dear Justin"), thanking him for his letter, and continuing "...I am glad you liked The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and I am happy to tell you that I have already started writing another book about the First Age in Middle Earth, which will include many of the things you wanted to hear about. I am afraid I am rather slow... It will be called The Silmarillion...", one page, light dust-staining, creased particularly at folds, 4to (224 x 177mm.), Headington, Oxford, 30 May 1963
Footnotes

'I AM GLAD YOU LIKED THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND THE HOBBIT': Tolkien writes to a nine-year-old fan and informs him that he is working on The Silmarillion, albeit slowly.

This letter is not included in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter, 2023, although a subsequent letter from Justin and Tolkien's reply are published in Wayne G. Hammond, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, 2006, nos. 542 and 2287 and on tolkiengateway.net. After receiving Tolkien's letter of May 1963, Justin, impatiently waiting for the book to come out, wrote again to him on the same subject later in the year. Tolkien responded on 18 January 1964, reiterating his belief that The Silmarillion would not be published for some time. The book was eventually published posthumously in 1977.

Provenance: Justin Arundale; by descent to his half-sister, the present owner.

TOLKIEN (J.R.R)
The Silmarillion, NUMBER 119 OF 1000 COPIES, Collector's Edition, limitation leaf laid down on front free endpaper as issued, one folding map, small mark with tiny hole on p.260 affecting some letters, publisher's red morocco with JRRT monogram blind-stamped in gilt, spine faded with small mark to foot of spine, t.e.g., slipcase, 8vo, George Allen & Unwin, 1977 [but 1978]