Yes! A beautiful 196-page hardbound catalogue will accompany the exhibition. It reproduces the complete object list and includes introductory essays by the curators. The catalogue will be available for purchase at the museum when the exhibition opens on August 19th. That same day it will also become available for online purchase through the Haggerty Museum’s online store (https://shophaggerty.com/). Sale through the online store is limited to buyers within the United States. Those outside the United States who wish to purchase a copy should email Mary Dornfeld. ([email protected])

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are the most famous fantasy novels in the world. It might surprise you, then, that one of the most significant collections of Tolkien’s literary work – a dragon’s hoard worth – resides here in Milwaukee in the archives of Marquette University.

It started with Marquette’s Library Director William Ready (1914-81), who actively sought out Catholic authors. Ready approached Tolkien through an intermediary in 1956 and negotiated the purchase of his manuscripts for The Hobbit and the three volumes of his magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings (as well as lesser-known works), just a year after the last of those books were published.

“Ready was in the right place at the right time and had the good sense to pursue those manuscripts,” says William Fliss, an archivist in the department of special collections at Marquette. Fliss curates the Tolkien collection and is co-curator with UW-Milwaukee art historian Sarah Schaefer on the new exhibit “J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript,” which opens this month at the Haggerty Museum of Art.

Fans will have a chance to marvel at Tolkien’s manuscripts – handwritten, typewritten “or as is quite common, a combination of the two,” Fliss says. These include hand-drawn maps and other illustrations and range from “iconic pieces for the fans and some items that have never been published or shown before.” The 147 items have been pulled from Marquette’s archives, with some on loan from the other tower of the author’s archived work, Oxford University, where he was a professor.

“You’ll also see Tolkien’s work put into dialogue with the kind of works from the medieval period and Tolkien’s own time that were influential for him and informed a lot of his world-building.” says Schaefer.

Among the displayed pages are Tolkien’s drafts and complete illustrated pages from the Book of Mazarbul, the chronicle found in the Mines of Moria that Gandalf translates in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien illustrated these to look like damaged medieval manuscripts, but to his disappointment, his publisher didn’t include them in the finished book due to expediency and cost.

Another page on display is perhaps a literal tearjerker. “It’s a manuscript that we believe has Tolkien’s tear stains on it from when he wept reading a certain part of the story,” Fliss says. “I won’t say what the scene is, but it’s on display so people can have that powerful realization that at some point Tolkien sat down and wrote this and wept onto the page. It really adds a power to seeing the manuscript.”

08-16-22 Marquette President Mike Lovell and archivist Bill Fliss

Eight-five of the most visual documents from the collection are on display including 37 objects that have never been exhibited or published before. Oxford University also contributed 37 items.

Description

This beautiful 196-page hardbound catalogue accompanies the exhibition J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript. It reproduces the complete object list in color, including never-before published works, and includes introductory essays by the curators Sarah C. Schaefer and William M. Fliss. The catalog measures 11 1/4 ” x 9 1/2″ x 1″ (28.5 x 24 x 2.5 cm) If shipping to your country is not enabled or you wish to inquire about bulk sales, please email Mary Dornfeld.

Trotter wrote:

The website worked for ordering to the UK, good luck.