Letter to Pauline Baynes: Difference between revisions

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Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
4 June 1949  
4 June 1949  
Dear Miss Baynes,
Dear Miss Baynes,
         I ought to have written toyou before to tell you of the great pleasure that your drawings in illustrationof “Farmer Giles” have given me. My friends, very justly, said after seeingthem that they had reduced the text to a commentary on the pictures.
         I ought to have written toyou before to tell you of the great pleasure that your drawings in illustrationof “Farmer Giles” have given me. My friends, very justly, said after seeingthem that they had reduced the text to a commentary on the pictures.
       I have now seen and returned the ‘paste-up’; and though I am glad that so many of the illustrations have been preserved, at least in the sense that they arerepresented, I  am distressed. Ignorantas I am of the costs and of production-processes, I had hoped for a larger pageand space. I fear it has done small justice to your beautiful line and patternto reduce the size so drastically.
       I have now seen and returned the ‘paste-up’; and though I am glad that so many of the illustrations have been preserved, at least in the sense that they arerepresented, I  am distressed. Ignorantas I am of the costs and of production-processes, I had hoped for a larger pageand space. I fear it has done small justice to your beautiful line and patternto reduce the size so drastically.
Line 20: Line 15:
         I am hoping soon to get some larger works published, and in a more ample fashion; and if so, I hope you might be interested, or at least have time to consider them. One, a long romance in sequel to The Hobbit, is finished after someyears of work, and is being typed. It is held up at the moment, since I amimmersed in examinations and other weary business; but when it's done, I wonderif I could prevail on you to glance at it.
         I am hoping soon to get some larger works published, and in a more ample fashion; and if so, I hope you might be interested, or at least have time to consider them. One, a long romance in sequel to The Hobbit, is finished after someyears of work, and is being typed. It is held up at the moment, since I amimmersed in examinations and other weary business; but when it's done, I wonderif I could prevail on you to glance at it.
           I hope that we mayperhaps [have the?] opportunity of meeting ere [?]
           I hope that we mayperhaps [have the?] opportunity of meeting ere [?]
Yours sincerely,
Yours sincerely,



Revision as of 07:52, 24 March 2014

Pauline Baynes 4 June 1949 is a letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Pauline Baynes, composed on 4 June 1949. It was written following the completion of Tolkien's manuscript of The Lord of the Rings.[1]

Excerpt

Baynes 1949.jpg

Merton College, Oxford 4 June 1949 Dear Miss Baynes,

       I ought to have written toyou before to tell you of the great pleasure that your drawings in illustrationof “Farmer Giles” have given me. My friends, very justly, said after seeingthem that they had reduced the text to a commentary on the pictures.
      I have now seen and returned the ‘paste-up’; and though I am glad that so many of the illustrations have been preserved, at least in the sense that they arerepresented, I  am distressed. Ignorantas I am of the costs and of production-processes, I had hoped for a larger pageand space. I fear it has done small justice to your beautiful line and patternto reduce the size so drastically.
        Evenso, what little value this rather slender ‘squib’ has is much enhanced by yourwork.
        I am hoping soon to get some larger works published, and in a more ample fashion; and if so, I hope you might be interested, or at least have time to consider them. One, a long romance in sequel to The Hobbit, is finished after someyears of work, and is being typed. It is held up at the moment, since I amimmersed in examinations and other weary business; but when it's done, I wonderif I could prevail on you to glance at it.
         I hope that we mayperhaps [have the?] opportunity of meeting ere [?]

Yours sincerely,

J.R.R. Tolkien

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