Letter to Miss Stanley-Smith (22 November 1956): Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Miss Stanley-Smith 22 November 1956.png|thumb]] | [[Image:Miss Stanley-Smith 22 November 1956.png|thumb]] | ||
On [[22 November]] [[1956]], [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] wrote '''[[Letters not published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien|a letter]] to Miss Stanley-Smith''', librarian at [[Wikipedia:Deddington|Deddington]] Library.<ref name=CG>{{CG|C}}, pp. 496-8</ref><ref>"[http://www.deddingtonnews.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/8080/Tolkien.pdf Deddington Library, opened by Tolkien in 1956, under threat from OCC]", [http://www.deddingtonnews.co.uk/ DeddingtonNews.co.uk] (accessed 23 December 2011)</ref><ref>Sam McGregor, "[http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9432878.Tolkien_letters_return_to_rightful_home/ Tolkien letters return to rightful home]" (dated 23 December 2011), [http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/ OxfordMail.co.uk] (accessed 23 December 2011)</ref> | |||
*'''Subject:''' Tolkien accepts an invitation to give a speech at the opening of the new library (on [[14 December]]).<ref name=CG/> | *'''Subject:''' Tolkien accepts an invitation to give a speech at the opening of the new library (on [[14 December]]).<ref name=CG/> | ||
==Transcription== | |||
{{blockquote|Dear Miss Stanley-Smith,<br/><br/> Fortunately I think I can manage Friday 14 <strike>Nove</strike> December. I say ‘fortunately’, because though I dislike talking (in this sense), lecturing, or addressing a gathering, I should have been sorry to refuse your invitation: you sugar the central pill so attractively. I should be delighted to visit Deddington and have lunch with you; and I fear that the fee will be more than ample for the performance. Short? Ten minutes? A quarter of an hour?<br/><br/>I will consult you later, if I may, on the sort of thing likely to be most appropriate.<br/><br/>As for my own writings: beside the two you name there is Farmer Giles of Ham (Allen & Unwin), specially appropriate, since it is localized in Oxfordshire. Other poems and stories are, I fear, either scattered in periodicals or o.p.2 and await collection. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Clarendon Press), since it is an edition of a mediaeval poem, would, I imagine, be regarded as too technical, specially as I have not yet published the translation which has twice been broadcast.<br/><br/>It would be most kind if you could send a car, as I have none of my own now and have in consequence seldom visited Deddington, in post-war years, though I used often to do so.<br/><br/>Yours sincerely,<br/><br/>J.R.R. Tolkien<br/><br/>P.S. I wonder if Mrs. Lionel Hitchens is the mother of Miss Phoebe Hitchens, whom I have met, since my daughter knew her. She was, I think, the cousin (?) of the woman novelist of the same name - (Noughts and Crosses …etc.).<br/>JRR T.}} | |||
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Yours sincerely, | |||
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==See also== | ==See also== | ||
*[[The Banbury Advertiser 19 December 1956|''The Banbury Advertiser'' 19 December 1956]] | *[[The Banbury Advertiser 19 December 1956|''The Banbury Advertiser'' 19 December 1956]] | ||
*[[Miss Stanley-Smith 19 December 1956]] | *[[Letter to Miss Stanley-Smith (19 December 1956)]] | ||
*[[Oxford Mail 15 December 1956|''Oxford Mail'' 15 December 1956]] | *[[Oxford Mail 15 December 1956|''Oxford Mail'' 15 December 1956]] | ||
{{references}} | {{references}} | ||
[[Category:Letters]] | {{title}} | ||
[[Category:Letters|Stanley-Smith, Miss (1956-11-22)]] | |||
Latest revision as of 08:32, 18 March 2024
On 22 November 1956, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to Miss Stanley-Smith, librarian at Deddington Library.[1][2][3]
- Subject: Tolkien accepts an invitation to give a speech at the opening of the new library (on 14 December).[1]
Transcription[edit | edit source]
Dear Miss Stanley-Smith,
Fortunately I think I can manage Friday 14NoveDecember. I say ‘fortunately’, because though I dislike talking (in this sense), lecturing, or addressing a gathering, I should have been sorry to refuse your invitation: you sugar the central pill so attractively. I should be delighted to visit Deddington and have lunch with you; and I fear that the fee will be more than ample for the performance. Short? Ten minutes? A quarter of an hour?
I will consult you later, if I may, on the sort of thing likely to be most appropriate.
As for my own writings: beside the two you name there is Farmer Giles of Ham (Allen & Unwin), specially appropriate, since it is localized in Oxfordshire. Other poems and stories are, I fear, either scattered in periodicals or o.p.2 and await collection. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Clarendon Press), since it is an edition of a mediaeval poem, would, I imagine, be regarded as too technical, specially as I have not yet published the translation which has twice been broadcast.
It would be most kind if you could send a car, as I have none of my own now and have in consequence seldom visited Deddington, in post-war years, though I used often to do so.
Yours sincerely,
J.R.R. Tolkien
P.S. I wonder if Mrs. Lionel Hitchens is the mother of Miss Phoebe Hitchens, whom I have met, since my daughter knew her. She was, I think, the cousin (?) of the woman novelist of the same name - (Noughts and Crosses …etc.).
JRR T.
See also[edit | edit source]
- The Banbury Advertiser 19 December 1956
- Letter to Miss Stanley-Smith (19 December 1956)
- Oxford Mail 15 December 1956
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, pp. 496-8
- ↑ "Deddington Library, opened by Tolkien in 1956, under threat from OCC", DeddingtonNews.co.uk (accessed 23 December 2011)
- ↑ Sam McGregor, "Tolkien letters return to rightful home" (dated 23 December 2011), OxfordMail.co.uk (accessed 23 December 2011)
