Editions:
Originally published by George Allen & Unwin in 1981
at £9.95, 7,500 - 10,000 copies were printed and by
Houghton Mifflin in 1981 at £16.95, 100,000 copies
were printed.
The first paperback appeared in 1990 by Unwin at £6,99,
7,500 copies were printed.
Review:
Scholars
and fans (13.09.03) by Editorial
Reviews from Amazon
Scholars and fans of the great mythologist will find a rich
vein of information in Humphrey Carpenter's The Letters
of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was a prodigious letter writer
all his life; the sheer mass of his correspondence would
give pause to even the most stalwart archivist (one shudders
to think what he would have done with e-mail). But with
the able assistance of tolkien's son Christopher and a healthy
dose of determination, Carpenter manages find the cream
of the crop--the letters that shed light on tolkien's thoughts
about his academic and literary work, as well as those that
show his more private side, revealing a loving husband,
a playful friend, and a doting father. The most fascinating
letters are, of course, those in which he discusses Middle-Earth,
and Carpenter offers plenty of those to choose from. Tolkien
discussed the minutia of his legend--sometimes at great
length--with friends, publishers, and even fans who wrote
to him with questions. These letters offer significant insights
into how he went about creating the peoples and languages
of Middle-Earth.
I have long ceased to invent (though even patronizing or sneering critics on the side praise my 'inventions'): I wait till I seem to know what really happened. Or till it writes itself. Thus, though I knew for years that Frodo would run into a tree-adventure somewhere far down the Great River, I had no recollection of inventing Ents. I came at last to the point, and wrote the 'Treebeard' chapter without any recollection of any previous thought: just as it is now. And then I saw that, of course, it had not happened to Frodo at all.
This new edition of letters has an extensive index, and
Carpenter has included a brief blurb at the beginning of
each letter to explain who the correspondent was and what
was being discussed. Still, we strongly recommend buying
the companion volume, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, in order
to better understand the place these correspondents had
in tolkien's life and get a better context for the letters.
--Perry M. Atterberry
From Library Journal
The old fellow's letters to friends, family, and fans offer
insight into his life and writings. Fun but not essential.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892. After serving
in the First World War, he embarked upon a distinguished
career as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.
He is the renowned creator of Middle-earth and author of
the great modern classic, The Hobbit, the prelude to his
epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Other works by
J.R.R. Tolkien include The Silmarillion. J.R.R. Tolkien
died in 1973 at the age of 81. Humphrey Carpenter, the author
of THE BRIDESHEAD GENERATION and THE INKLINGS, among other
books, was given unrestricted access to all of tolkien's
papers for his biography of Tolkien, J.R.R. TOLKIEN: A BIOGRAPHY.
Book Description
'...If you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I
think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link.
If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once
acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately
appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as
soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started
at once. But I met a lot of things along the way that astonished
me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to
Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock,
and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines
of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word
had reached my mortal ears till I came there.' -- J.R.R.
Tolkien to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955J.R.R. Tolkien, cherished
author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion,
was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter
writers. Over the years he wrote a mass of letters -- to
his publishers, his family, to friends, and to fans of his
books -- which record the history and composition of his
works and his reaction to subsequent events.By turns thoughtful,
impish, scholarly, impassioned, playful, vigorous, and gentle,
Tolkien poured his heart and mind into a great stream of
correspondence to intimate friends and unknown admirers
all over the world. From this collection one sees a mind
of immense complexity and many layers -- artistic, religious,
charmingly eccentric, sentimental, and ultimately brilliant.Now
newly expanded with a detailed index, this collection provides
an invaluable record that sheds much light on tolkien's
creative genius, his thoughts and feelings about his own
work, and the evolution of his grand design for the creation
of a whole new world -- Middle-earth.
From the Publisher (15.03.04) by Editorial
Reviews from Barnes & Noble
'...If you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I
think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link.
If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once
acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately
appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as
soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started
at once. But I met a lot of things along the way that astonished
me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to
Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock,
and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines
of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word
had reached my mortal ears till I came there.' -- J.R.R.
Tolkien to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955J.R.R. Tolkien, cherished
author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion,
was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter
writers. Over the years he wrote a mass of letters -- to
his publishers, his family, to friends, and to fans of his
books -- which record the history and composition of his
works and his reaction to subsequent events.By turns thoughtful,
impish, scholarly, impassioned, playful, vigorous, and gentle,
Tolkien poured his heart and mind into a great stream of
correspondence to intimate friends and unknown admirers
all over the world. From this collection one sees a mind
of immense complexity and many layers -- artistic, religious,
charmingly eccentric, sentimental, and ultimately brilliant.Now
newly expanded with a detailed index, this collection provides
an invaluable record that sheds much light on tolkien's
creative genius, his thoughts and feelings about his own
work, and the evolution of his grand design for the creation
of a whole new world -- Middle-earth.
From The Critics
Library Journal
The old fellow's letters to friends, family, and fans offer
insight into his life and writings. Fun but not essential.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.