Interesting Letter to Jonathan Wordsworth of Merton College

The letter concerns a bust of Tolkien sculpted by his daughter-in-law Faith, and presented to him in 1959 by the university as a retirement gift.

He later had it cast in bronze, and gifted it back to the English faculty in 1966, where it remains on display to this day.

In this typed letter, he suggests that the faculty could raise funds by selling bronze copies of the bust:

“I thought it might be possible to have some other casts made to order while the tide of Tolkien adulation was still high...”

He also suggests selling signed photographs of the bust to library visitors, which he could sign to increase the value.

“I would be willing to sign a limited number of these with my ordinary signature, for which you could charge more.”