Tolkien Collector's Guide
Sign In
Tolkien Collector's Guide
Important links:

Guide to Tolkien's Letters
-
Winner of the 2019 Tolkien Society award for Best Website

M.C. Burkitt, "Prehistory", 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1925)

4 hours ago
2025-2-5 7:55:48 PM UTC

In their The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide, rev. & exp. ed. (HarperCollins, 2017), Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond write (p. 492):

"The page illustrating some of the cave paintings found by Father Christmas, Polar Bear, and Cave-Bear which accompanied Tolkien’s 1932 *‘Father Christmas’ letter was based on real examples in Europe.... [W]e have been informed by *Christopher Tolkien that all of the ‘Father Christmas’ cave images appear in a book which had once belonged to his father, Prehistory: A Study of Early Cultures in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin by M.C. Burkitt (2nd edn. 1925)."

I recently obtained a copy of this work, in dust-jacket, and thought folks here might like to see some photos of (and from) it.

A scanned copy of the volume can be found on the Internet Archive site here:

https://archive.org/details/cu31924029918699

You can see some of the original rock carvings from which these various drawings were made — including the ultimate origin of Tolkien's drasil-riding goblins (see below) — in situ here:

https://www.tanumworldheritage.se/besoksmal/litsleby-rock-carvings/



247_67a3b9d2c1070.png 960X1280 px

247_67a3b9e335401.png 910X1280 px

247_67a3bfefd56ea.png 1280X960 px

247_67a3bfefd5804.png 1280X971 px

247_67a3c020a90a7.png 1280X956 px

247_67a3c10b16af6.png 1280X966 px

247_67a3c11ab946a.jpg 1075X716 px

247_67a3c1d7c89f3.png 1657X606 px
10 minutes ago
2025-2-5 11:45:03 PM UTC
Yes,it's a truly fascinating book Aelfwine. I've not seen the dust jacket before thanks as my ex-library 1921 edition does not have one. As you say, the ultimate origin of Tolkien's drasil-riding goblins. It's one of those books that invade one's monstrous dreams along with that persistent one of a 'great wave towering up and advancing ineluctably over the trees'
Jump to Last
All original content © by the submitting authors. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Contact Us