Letter 187

From Tolkien Gateway
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 187
RecipientH. Cotton Minchin
DateUndated, April 1956 – Written at the top: "More or less as sent 16 April"
Subject(s)The rushed map for Volume III, the missing volume

Letter 187 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary[edit | edit source]

As research students always discover, said Tolkien, however long they are allowed and careful their work, there is always a rush at the end. So it was with The Lord of the Rings and the maps. His son, the C.T or C.J.R.T of modest initials, was called in. Neither had had an entirely free hand. When it became apparent that the "general map" was insufficient for the final Book, Tolkien devoted many days (the last three virtually without food or sleep) to re-scale the large map and then Christopher worked 24 hours straight to produce the final map just in time. Inconsistent spelling was due to Tolkien, who had decided, for consistency, to spell Elvish names with a 'C' rather than a 'K' even though his son insisted that no one would ever pronounce Cirith correctly.

To Tolkien and his son the most absorbing interest was Elvish tongues, nomenclature based on them, and the alphabets. He had planned a "specialist volume" which would be largely linguistic, having an index of names with etymological interpretations that would provide a large Elvish vocabulary. He had worked at it for months until it was clear that its size and cost would be ruinous. The “production department” also cut out his "facsimiles" of the three pages of the Book of Mazarbul, without which the opening of Book Two, Chapter 5[1] was defective and made the Runes of the Appendices unnecessary.

Tolkien revealed what many wanted in an extra volume: Minchin wanted maps, others wanted geological indications (more difficult and perilous, said Tolkien, since he had very little knowledge), many wanted Elvish grammars, phonologies, specimens, some wanted metrics and prosodies. Musicians wanted tunes and musical notations. Archaeologists wanted ceramics and metallurgy. Botanists wanted more details of Tolkien's Middle-earth trees and flowers. Historians wanted the social and political structure of Gondor while others wanted information about the Wainriders, the Harad, Dwarvish origins, the Dead Men, Beornings, and the missing wizards. It would be a big volume, said Tolkien.

In the expanded edition

In the first three paragraphs: Tolkien responds to Minchin's suggestion of making a "specialists" volume of extra material, saying he once had that idea and it would not be impractical, but he thinks it's too much labour and his duties are occupying most of his time. He then talks about why his professorial work is occupying him so much: Oxford has postponed his retirement, and according to Tolkien Oxford is putting more works on him to compensate the time he spent writing "unprofessional"works. Next Tolkien discusses that a story must be based on a map, not the other way around, and that a rough but accurate map will serve better than one loosely drawn for reproduction.

In the last four paragraphs: he says he would first sort out the Silmarillion, and together with the Cosmogony [Ainulindalë] and the Downfall of Númenor publish them in chronological order. It would have "lightened" The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien is surprised by the success of the book, but shows displeasure about U.K. Treasury taking a large portion of its profit which should be his. He then digresses to discuss the origins of names: Minchin might be a variant of the surname Nunn, a modern spelling of the Anglo-Saxon word nun; and his Tolkien comes from German tollkühn. He mentions his amusing encounter with a real "Sam Gamgee", and he told Tolkien that Gamgee is a name from Essex. And finally, he reveals that the "Sam Gamgee" in the story is a reflection of a English soldier Tolkien knew during the WWI, who was "far superior" to himself.

See also[edit | edit source]

References


The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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Unpublished letters

Letters marked with a (*) are updated and expanded in the new edition.