Letter to Clyde S. Kilby (18 December 1965)
From Tolkien Gateway
On 18 December 1965, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to Clyde S. Kilby.
- Subject: Tolkien accepts Kilby's suggestion to help him work on The Silmarillion manuscripts.
- Publication: Most of the letter was published in Tolkien and the Silmarillion (pp. 16-18) by Kilby himself. Excerpts were published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (as letter 282) and The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology (pp. 649-50). Shorter quotes are included in Kilby's article "Woodland Prisoner", published in SEVEN, Volume 27 (p. 49).
Extract
I was deeply touched by [your letter], indeed overwhelmed by your generosity in offering to sacrifice your precious time (and holiday) in helping me. … [Y]our offer under heads 2) and 3) are extremely attractive. … If I had the assistance of a scholar at once sympathetic and yet critical, such as yourself, I feel I might make some of it publishable. It needs the actual presence of a friend and adviser at one’s side, which is just what you offer.