Letter to Pauline Baynes: Difference between revisions
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*'''Publication:''' Excerpts from the letter have been published in ''[[Sotheby's Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts 13 December 2001]]'' and on the web site of Sotheby's (see external link below). Another publication of an excerpt was in the article ''The greatest letters ever written'' (unknown author/editor) on [[27 June|June 27]], [[2007]] (in the online edition of ''The Independent''), and in ''[[Christie's The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters]]''. | *'''Publication:''' Excerpts from the letter have been published in ''[[Sotheby's Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts 13 December 2001]]'' and on the web site of Sotheby's (see external link below). Another publication of an excerpt was in the article ''The greatest letters ever written'' (unknown author/editor) on [[27 June|June 27]], [[2007]] (in the online edition of ''The Independent''), and in ''[[Christie's The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters]]''. | ||
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[[File:baynes_1949.jpg|thumb]] | [[File:baynes_1949.jpg|thumb]] | ||
Revision as of 07:53, 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]
- Publication: Excerpts from the letter have been published in Sotheby's Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts 13 December 2001 and on the web site of Sotheby's (see external link below). Another publication of an excerpt was in the article The greatest letters ever written (unknown author/editor) on June 27, 2007 (in the online edition of The Independent), and in Christie's The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters.
Content
Merton College, Oxford4 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
External links
References
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 350
