Letter to Moira Sayer (10 August 1952)

On 10 August 1952, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to Moira Sayer (wife of George Sayer).

• Subject: The second half of The Lord of the Rings.
• Publication: Excerpts from the letter appeared in Christie's 20th Century Books and Manuscripts 16 November 2001. A description of the letter appears in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology.

Excerpt

"Though I carried your letter about to cheer me up-it is a wonderful sensation to find that anything one has written is liked-I am afraid I allowed the burden of exhaustion caused by examinations to lead me into ungrateful silence. I think it is v. kind indeed of you all the same to allow me to come and stay. I will be as little nuisance as possible (I know too much to suppose that I shall be none); and I resemble a hobbit at any rate in being moderately and cheerfully domesticated, though no cook. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to it, the first thoroughly agreeable prospect I have had since I was ill in October I suppose George got back safely after his astonishing dash to O. and back! I can only hope that the cargo proved worth the effort. Still I cannot really fear that, if your appetite (and his) could last so long, it will not find plenty to its taste in the second half. It's pretty well a crescendo until at least Chap. 4 of the last "book". It is on the rallentando and coda [i.e. the winding down of the story, and the hobbits' return to the Shire] that I am specially anxious for your opinion.
—J.R.R. Tolkien

See also

• Letter to George and Moira Sayer (7 August 1952)
• Letter to George Sayer (24 June 1953)
• Letter to George Sayer (28 November 1963)
• Letter to George Sayer (21 March 1966)
• Letter to George and Moira Sayer (11 December 1971)