The Invented Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings and Original Manuscripts From The Marquette University Collection

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e-Publications@Marquette
Catalogues and Gallery Guides Haggerty Museum of Art

1-1-2004

The Invented Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings


and Original Manuscripts from the Marquette
University Collection
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art

Curtis L. Carter
Marquette University

Matt Blessing
Marquette University

Arne Zettersten

Annemarie Sawkins
Marquette University

See next page for additional authors


Authors
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Curtis L. Carter, Matt Blessing, Arne Zettersten, Annemarie
Sawkins, and J. R. R. Tolkien

This other is available at e-Publications@Marquette: http://epublications.marquette.edu/haggerty_catalogs/48


Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien, Associated Press photo

2
The Invented Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien
Drawings and Original Manuscripts from the Marquette University Collection
October 21, 2004 - January 30, 2005
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Organized by the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University
© 2004 Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the
prior written permission of the author and publisher.

Reproductions of Tolkien’s works: Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust
Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien: Associated Press photo
William Ready, director of the Marquette University's library: Courtesy of Marquette University Archives.

Catalogue production coordinator: Annemarie Sawkins


Catalogue design and layout: Jerome Fortier
Catalogue printed by Anderson Graphics, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Cover Image:
J.R.R. Tolkien, Isengard and Orthanc
Pencil on paper
9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 191 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/5/8
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

Haggerty Museum of Art Staff


Curtis L. Carter, Director
Lee Coppernoll, Assistant Director
Annemarie Sawkins, Associate Curator
Lynne Shumow, Curator of Education
Jerome Fortier, Assistant Curator
James Kieselburg, II, Registrar
Andrew Nordin, Head Preparator
Nicholas Fredrick, Assistant Preparator
Mary Wagner, Administrative Assistant
Jason Pilmaier, Communications Assistant
Clayton Montez, Chief Security Officer

3
T he Invented Worlds of
J . R. R. T o l k i e n
Drawings and Original Manuscripts
from the Marquette University Collection

4
Acknowledgments

The exhibition The Invented Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings and Original Manuscripts from
the Marquette University Collection at the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University,
(October 21, 2004-January 30, 2005), represents a collaboration between the Haggerty Museum of
Art and the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University
Libraries. The exhibition was held in conjunction with the international conference The Lord of the
Rings, 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Dr. Richard E. Blackwelder at Marquette University
(October 22-23, 2004).

A major international author whose artistic talent is now recognized, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
(1892-1973) is perhaps best known for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Born in 1892 in
Bloemfontein, South Africa, Tolkien was Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford
University. His original manuscripts and illustrations have been featured in international exhibitions
at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee,
WI. This is the second Haggerty exhibition featuring the work of the English novelist and philologist.

The aim of the exhibition is to examine in a scholarly context and for the public the work of J.R.R.
Tolkien in the Marquette University collection. It is being presented with the cooperation of
Christopher Tolkien,The J.R.R.Tolkien Estate Limited and The J.R.R.Tolkien Copyright Trust.

This exhibition is the most recent in a series of exhibitions at the Haggerty Museum of Art featuring
art and literature. Previous exhibitions at the Haggerty include Paula Rego: Jane Eyre Lithographs,
a suite of prints, inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s novel (March 4 - May 23, 2004) and Virginia Lee
Burton: Children’s Book Illustrator, Author and Designer (October 11 - December 8, 2002).

I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Nicholas Burkel, Dean of Libraries and
Matt Blessing, Head of Special Collections and University Archives, John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, for
their assistance to the Haggerty on this exhibition and for Matt Blessing’s essay on the history of the
Tolkien collection. Special thanks to Dr. Arne Zettersten, Professor of English Language and
Literature at the University of Copenhagen, for sharing his expertise of J.R.R. Tolkien, Douglas A.
Anderson, Wayne G. Hammond, and Richard C. West who read portions of this catalogue prior to
publication, and Annemarie Sawkins who assisted with coordination of the exhibition and publica-
tion.

Finally, I would like to thank our exhibition sponsors. Funding for this exhibition was provided by
the Joan Pick Endowment Fund, the Edward D. Simmons Religious Commitment Fund, Marquette
University and the Wisconsin Arts Board without whose support this exhibition would not have
been possible.

Curtis L. Carter
Director

5
Table of Contents

7 Ways of WorldMaking: J.R.R. Tolkien


Curtis L. Carter

17 “A Masterpiece of the Future”


A Brief History of Marquette’s J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
Matt Blessing

25 T he AB Language Livess
Arne Zettersten

34 J.R.R. Tolkien Biography


37 Select Tolkien Bibliography
42 Works in the Exhibition Annemarie Sawkins

6
Page 1 of The Book of Mazarbul (first version), 1940-41
Ink and colored pencil on paper
9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (235 x 184 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/4/12
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust
7
Ways of WorldMaking: J.R.R. Tolkien
Curtis L. Carter

The subject of J.R.R. Tolkien’s (1892-1973) literary masterpieces, represented in the set of books
known as The Lord of the Rings first published in three volumes in 1954-55 and The Hobbit which
appeared in 1937, suggests immediately the theme of worldmaking. It is not the worldmaking of
statesmen that occupies Tolkien. Rather it is worldmaking made possible through the author’s imag-
inative constructions using words. This theme has caught the attention of other great minds of the
twentieth century. Among them would be the American philosopher Nelson Goodman (1906-1998)
whose fascinating book Ways of Worldmaking examines the formative functions of symbols.
Goodman asks probing questions concerning our uses of language/literature, pictures, and other
types of symbols to create worlds of understanding. For example, he asks,“In just what sense are
there many worlds? What distinguishes genuine from spurious worlds? How are they made? …And
how is worldmaking related to knowing?”1 Goodman holds that “the arts must be taken no less
seriously than the sciences as modes of discovery, creation, and enlargement of knowledge” in their
role of advancement of understanding.2

Tolkien’s literary texts cannot be fully appreciated apart from a larger, philosophical issue concern-
ing language. His childhood fascination with inventing languages eventually led him to the study of
languages. For Tolkien, a language is a wholly invented enterprise constructed by a mind, or set of
minds, and has no natural existence apart from its invention and use by a human mind, or a
community of such minds. At the core of his invented worlds is the assumption that “language creates
the reality it describes.”3 In this respect,Tolkien holds similar views to those of Goodman who views
languages as entirely constructed symbol systems. As a part of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
simulated pages representing The Book of Mazarbul which is constructed from runes invented by
Tolkien. Pages from the original manuscript are included in the current exhibition. Page 1 of The
Book of Mazarbul, first version, 1940-41, is intended as a diary kept by the Dwarves of Balin’s expe-
dition to Moria in the Third Age.

As a philologist and professor of Anglo Saxon languages at Oxford University, Tolkien might well have
contemplated similar questions to those raised by Goodman concerning worldmaking. It seems
certain that his detailed literary constructions address the very essence of worldmaking in a concrete
frame of reference that Goodman considers from a broader philosophical perspective. Just as it is
possible for human minds to construct scientific and every day practical worlds, it is equally feasible
for them to invent fantasy or secondary worlds with their own systems of logic and alternative struc-
tures. The world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings represents such a construction with its
delineation of names corresponding to players and places that reside solely within Tolkien’s invented
secondary world. Within his imaginary landscape, Tolkien supplies the definition of a hobbit, as “one
of an imaginary people, [in the tales of J. R. R.Tolkien].‘Hobbit’ thus refers to a small variety of people-
like characters, who give themselves this name meaning “hole-dweller,” who were called by others
“halflings,” since they were half the height of normal men.4 Similarly, the names ‘Bilbo’ and ‘Gandalf’
refer to characters that reside in the fictive world created by Tolkien. The creation of such worlds is
the essence of mythopoeia, or the making of myths.

Hence works of fiction such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings command a significant role in
worldmaking. They function not as literal description, but as a metaphorical alternative world view
that may actually live in the experiences of those who read or otherwise participate. As works of lit-
8
erature,Tolkien’s constructed worlds are not the world of the physicist, or the man on the street. But
they may nevertheless inform and enrich the worlds of both.

Tolkien’s Drawings and Water Color Paintings


Pictures are also invented “languages” according to Tolkien. In this instance, the pictures invented to
amplify his literary texts form a coherent set of visual images approaching a visual language. As illus-
trations, they provide viewers with visual symbols to augment the written texts in forming his
invented world.

Fewer people are aware that Tolkien was a talented visual artist, not having had the opportunity to
view his original drawings and watercolor paintings. These works are known primarily as the illus-
trations for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.5 The principal body of thirty-some known
drawings and watercolors relating to The Hobbit, executed between 1930 and 1937, are currently in
the collection of Oxford University’s Bodleian Library. Additional preliminary sketches from The
Hobbit comprise a part of the Tolkien Manuscript Collection at Marquette University, and at least one
additional is in private hands. (There may, of course, be others not presently recorded, such as a
drawing of Mirkwood that Tolkien reportedly gave to a Chinese student.) Nine of the black and
white drawings (Bodleian Library MS.Tolkien drawings 7,9, 13, 14, 17, 19, 23, 24, 25) appeared in the
first editions in England and America, and four of five watercolors (Bodleian Library MS. Tolkien
drawings 27, 28, 29, 30) were initially published in the first American edition. An exhibition at
Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art in 1987 offered their first American showing.6 An
exhibition, Drawings for The Hobbit by J. R. R.Tolkien at the Bodleian Library, was organized in 1987
in conjunction with the exhibition held at the Haggerty Museum,7 and in 2004 the Bodleian
presented the exhibition J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings, July 26 – September 18, 2004.

Tolkien’s landscapes cover the world of Middle-earth “from domestic interiors to mountain ranges”
and provide “intimate overviews, interior views, closed off perspectives, panoramic vistas, and
dramatic approaches” to help the reader enter into his fantasy world.8 For example, The Hill:
Hobbiton Across the Water, at the Bodleian shows the architecture, bridges, roadways, land elevations
and contours helps to give Tolkien’s followers understanding of the world where the inhabitants of
The Hobbit enact their alternative world drama. Similarly the spectacular sunglazed mountain
panorama that awakens the character Bilbo in “Bilbo woke up with early sun in his eyes,” (Bodleian
Library, MS.Tolkien drawings 28) can only heighten the imagination of a curious reader.

The present exhibition of Tolkien materials includes watercolor and drawings and manuscripts
mainly focusing on The Lord of the Rings with selections from The Hobbit and Mr. Bliss all from
Marquette University’s Raynor Library Special Collections and Archives. Among the pictures included
is Thror’s Map (Marquette University MS Tolkien, Mss 1/1/1) from The Hobbit. Thror was a Dwarf
King from under the Mountain during the Third Age whose adventures included an escape from the
dreaded Dragon Smaug. His murder by the Orcs was responsible for a war between the Orcs and the
Dwarves who eventually avenged his death. Other notable drawings in the exhibition are Minas
Tirith (Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/5/8) and Isengard and Orthanc (Marquette University
MS.Tolkien, 3/5/8) each representing an important fortress in The Lord of the Rings. Minas Tirith or
“Tower of the Guard” is the name given by the Elf-king Felagund to a fortress on the island of Tol
Sirion during the First Age. Isengard was a powerful fortification in Middle-earth during the Third
Age. The fortress called the Ring of Isengard consisted of a massive rock-wall in a circular shape.

9
Thror’s Map (original version), ca. 1935-36
Ink and pencil on paper
10 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (270 x 216 mm)
Marquette University MS Tolkien, Mss-1/1/1
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust
10
Isengard and Orthanc
Pencil on paper
9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 191 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/5/8
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

11
How are the visual images of Tolkien connected to his verbal texts? Both verbal and the visual
produce symbols which participate in the worldmaking process engaged in by Tolkien. The connec-
tions can be seen in the exhibition as representative textual passages from the original handwritten
or typed manuscripts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are exhibited side by side. The oppor-
tunity to experience these two elements, the verbal and the visual texts in proximity helps us to see
how they function, sometimes independently, sometimes together to build the worlds of Tolkien.

The pictures do not necessarily reveal the complex “moral” or the action of the tale told concerning
“the achievements of specially graced and gifted individuals” as described in The Hobbit. However,
his pictures construct visual landscapes of the place and time with sky, roads, mountains, caves,
streams, and the architecture of the fantasy land that is so essential to the meaning of the story.
Similarly, the visual hobbit figures enhance Tolkien’s verbal descriptions of the characters and enable
the reader more easily to enter into the magical world of The Hobbit. Without the pictures, it would
be impossible to imagine the particular nuances of height, angle, and depth of the mountains, and the
roundness of the Hill, or to grasp the vastness of the land and the mysterious qualities of the forest.
Word and image are complementary devices in constructing the worlds of Tolkien. If they are so
inclined, his viewer-readers can also search out edifying connections, some intended by the author
and others invented by themselves, linking Tolkien’s fantasy world with their own worlds.

Tolkien’s drawings and watercolors, especially those located in the Bodleian Library at Oxford
University, warrant consideration as original works of art extending beyond their role as illustrations
of his texts.9

...Tolkien was also himself an artist, who painted and drew despite many demands
upon his time, and who would struggle through several versions of a picture, if
needed, to capture his inner vision...In his eighty-one years he made many paintings
and drawings, some of them from life or nature, but most out of his imagination,
related to his epic Silmarillion mythology or legendarium and to his other tales of
Middle-earth, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings... [The work] was an integral part
of his life which has not been fully appreciated, in fact is usually overlooked, especial-
ly in connection with his books. As Christopher Tolkien, his youngest son and literary
executor, has remarked, no study of J.R.R. Tolkien's written work can be complete
without also looking at his art. He was by no means a professional artist. But he loved
to draw, and found in his pictures as in his writing an outlet for the visions that
burgeoned within his thoughts - another means of expression, another language.10

Humphrey Carpenter,Tolkien’s biographer, lends valuable insight into the scope and seriousness of
Tolkien’s visual art when he reminds us that Tolkien practiced art from his childhood on throughout
his life. According to Carpenter, Tolkien illustrated several of his own poems during undergraduate
days and began drawing regularly from about 1925 on. He subsequently produced illustrations for
The Father Christmas Letters, Mr. Bliss, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, and his
other works. Carpenter cites the lavish illustrations done for Mr. Bliss between 1932 and 1937 and
the fact that Mr. Bliss was actually constructed around the pictures, as “indicators of how seriously
Tolkien was taking the business of drawing and painting.” “He was by now a very talented artist,”
Carpenter writes,“although he had not the same skill at drawing figures as he had with landscapes.”11
Baillie Tolkien, also affirms the artistic skill of J.R.R.Tolkien:“He appears to have been unaware that

12
he possessed considerable artistic skill and a wholly original talent. . . . ”12 Yet, Letters No. 13-15, and
27 in Carpenter, written in 1937 to Allen & Unwin, show that he had certain reservations about the
adequacy of his pictures for the purpose of illustrating The Hobbit, particularly about drawing
figures.13

Stylistically, The Hobbit drawings and paintings are difficult to classify into any distinct school or
style. In some instances the artist appears to rely primarily on his own experiences. For instance, The
Mountain-path depicting the journey from Rivendell to the other side of the Misty Mountains, may
have been inspired by Tolkien’s youthful adventures at age 19 in the mountains of Switzerland. A
letter to his son Michael, No. 306 in Carpenter, describes in detail incidents from this hiking trip
where he narrowly escaped the rush of boulders dislodged by melting snow.14 Reminiscences of a
delicate oriental sensibility appear in other of his works. (The Misty Mountains looking West from
the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate, Bodleian Library, Ms.Tolkien drawings 14). Still others respectively
suggest the influence of art nouveau (Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves, Bodleian Library, MS.
Tolkien Drawings 29), expressionist (The Mountain-path, Bodleian Library, MS.Tolkien drawing 13),
and medieval styles (The Hill: Hobbiton across the Water Bodleian Library, MS.Tolkien drawing 7).
Perhaps the wide variety of stylistic devices is a result of an original creative impulse that freely
appropriates any available style for its own unique purposes. This stylistic pluralism in the visual
images parallels similar variety in his literary texts. Tolkien’s extensive knowledge of the diverse
northern fairy tales and myths is woven into his own highly original tales.

Whatever the sources of Tolkien’s pictorial conventions, the images themselves reveal a pristine indi-
viduality that carries the artist’s own stamp throughout. Each image, whether a bare sketch or a
finished image, possesses a richness of structure and detail that warrants continuous exploration for
subtle visual connections in reference to the surrounding texts. These special qualities of form and
fantasy are available to any knowledgeable viewer who seizes the opportunity to explore Tolkien’s
drawings and watercolors.

Despite his accomplishments as a visual artist, there is no evidence that Tolkien deliberately set out
to produce art for exhibition purposes, as Baillie Tolkien and others have noted. His pictures, as well
as his literary tales, appear to be the product of an essentially private activity. Tolkien’s own words
affirm the private nature of his creations.

It must be emphasized that this process of invention was/is a private enterprise


undertaken to give pleasure to myself by giving expression to my personal linguistic
“aesthetic” or taste and its fluctuations.15

Still their origin in the realm of private activity does not preclude the images being perceived and
valued as art by a larger public.

The Haggerty Museum exhibition accompanying this catalogue represents the second dedicated to
showing and examining the original Tolkien manuscripts contained in the Marquette University
Special Collections and Archives. The first, held in 1987, included drawings and water colors for The
Hobbit housed in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University.

13
Untitled (Doors of Durin)
Ink on paper
8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/3/10
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust
14
“Three Rings Poem” (calligraphy)
Black and red ink on paper
8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, 3/1/3
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

15
Since its first publication by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. in 1937, followed by Houghton
Mifflin’s 1938 edition, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been enjoyed by literally millions of
readers and has been the subject of endless scrutiny by critics, scholars, and enthusiasts.16
His The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings (1954, 1955), The Silmarillion (1977), edited by
Christopher Tolkien, and various other writings have assured him a lasting place in the
world’s fantasy literature. With the film release of The Hobbit in 1977 and The Lord of the
Rings in three parts in 2001-2003, Tolkien’s writings have received ever increasing promi-
nence. These developments only confirm his place among the giants of twentieth-century
creators of myth. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring characters now rival Walt
Disney’s cartoon characters in the popular mind, a rival whose works is said to have evoked
in Tolkien a heartfelt loathing.”17 The author himself has become one of the most widely cel-
ebrated of all twentieth-century writers and a perhaps reluctant cult figure.

1. Nelson Goodman, Ways of Worldmaking (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1978), p. 1.


2. Goodman, p. 102.
3. Verlyn Flierger, Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World (Kent and London: Kent
State University Press, 2002), p. xxi.
4. Humphrey Carpenter, editor with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien, The Letters of J.R. R. Tolkien
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin ,1981), No. 316, p. 405.
5. Tolkien created the illustrations for The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer
Giles of Ham, The Father Christmas Letters, Mr. Bliss and other texts.
6. A selection of the Hobbit drawings was previously shown in 1977 at the Ashmolean, and at the
National Book League in London. See the catalogue Drawings by Tolkien, catalogue of an exhibition at
the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, December 14-February 27, 1976-1977 and the National Book League ,
London, March 2-April 7, 1977. The catalogue, with an introduction by Baillie Tolkien and a note by
Humphrey Carpenter, included 35 drawings and watercolors from The Hobbit and 32 from The Lord of
the Rings.
7. “Drawings for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien” (an exhibition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its
publication), Bodleian Library, Oxford Library, February 24 - May 23, 1987. Organized by Dr. Judith
Priestman, this exhibition includes MS. Tolkien drawings 1, 2, 5, (7-10), (12-15), (17-21), (23-33) and
a selection of editions of The Hobbit and earlier published works of Tolkien.
8. Richard Schindler, “The Expectant Landscape: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Illustrations for the Hobbit,” J. R. R.
Tolkien: The Hobbit: Drawings, Watercolors, and Manuscripts , Exhibition Catalogue (Milwaukee:
Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, June 11-September 30, 1987), p. 17, 19.
9. For a more in-depth discussion of Tolkien’s role as an artist see Hammond, Wayne G., and Christina
Scull. J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator. London: Harper Collins, 1995; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
Corrected paperback ed., 2000. p. 9.
10. Ibid. p. 9
11. Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien: A Biography, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977, pp. 162-164.
12. Drawings By Tolkien, introduction.
13. Carpenter, The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, pp. 17-20, 35.
14. Carpenter, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No. 306, pp. 391-3. A pencil drawing showing a rugged
mountain landscape with a sign post in the foreground pointing “To the Wilds,” currently in the Wade
collection at Wheaton College (Illinois), may derive from this adventure.
15. Carpenter, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No. 297, p. 380.
16. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. published revised editions 1951, 1966, and 1978. Houghton Mifflin Co.
published the first American edition in 1938 with subsequent editions. A paperback edition was issued
by Ballantine in 1965. Unwin Hyman and Houghton Mifflin issued fiftieth anniversary editions in 1987.
17. Carpenter, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

16
William Ready, director of the Marquette University's library from 1956 to 1963.
Ready started transforming the library from a college-level facility to a university research library.
Marquette University Archives, William Ready biographical folder.

17
A Masterpiece of the Future
A Brief History of Marquette’s J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
Matt Blessing

“Dear Will: SUCCESS! Tolkien accepts your offer.” Bertram Rota, one of London’s most respected anti-
quarian book dealers had difficulty suppressing the adrenaline rush that comes along with any great
1
acquisition. He was negotiating with J.R.R. Tolkien, Professor of Old and Middle English, for the
Oxford don’s literary manuscripts. Rota had been hired as an agent for Marquette University by the
school’s new library director, William B. Ready. Nearly a half-century later, archivists and academic
librarians recognize that the Rota-Ready partnership had scored one of the great manuscript acquisi-
tions of the twentieth century.

Will Ready arrived in Milwaukee in the summer of 1956. Raised in Wales, he had moved his large
family to the United States following military service during the Second World War. In the early 1950s
Ready worked as the head of special collections at Stanford University, where he quickly earned a rep-
utation as a skillful “manuscript hunter.”2

Marquette University hired Ready with the understanding that he would establish and build collec-
tions for the recently constructed Memorial Library. Ready instructed his staff to build a solid
reference collection, then put his personal contacts in the antiquarian book trade to work identifying
unique collections for potential acquisition. Within weeks of his arrival, Ready began conceptualizing
what would eventually become the Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Planning to improve faculty research opportunities and expand its graduate program, Marquette’s
administration recognized that advanced research required information-rich, primary source collec-
tions. Ready began contemplating the fundamental question that all archivists must answer: What
should I collect? He operated in an era when research repositories viewed the acquisition process as
a competitive business. (Today, most archivists recognize that competing over collections can result
in a serious drain of human and budget resources.) Ready initially floated the idea of collecting the
papers of South African authors, but there is no surviving record documenting how the university
administration reacted to the idea. He was also unsuccessful soliciting the papers of Wisconsin lumi-
naries such as General Billy Mitchell and actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Partnering with
Raphael N. Hamilton, S.J., chair of the Department of History, Ready oversaw the acquisition of U.S.
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s political papers. He was also later successful in approaching Catholic
social activist Dorothy Day for her personal and professional papers. Adding to this eclectic mix of
potential donors, Ready hired Rota to negotiate with J.R.R. Tolkien in late 1956. One of the most
respected medievalists of his generation and the author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the
3
Rings (1954-1955),Tolkien was three years away from retirement at Oxford University.

The preservation and maintenance of archival collections, especially literary manuscripts, has always
been expensive. While soliciting the papers of a living author was much less common in the 1950s,
today it is routine practice. Many of Ready’s contemporaries at other research libraries would have
considered approaching the 65-year old Tolkien a risky gamble. Would the author’s reputation really
stand the test of time and interest future generations of scholars? Compounding the risk was the
nature of Tolkien’s work: adult fantasy fiction. It was an almost non-existent literary genre in the
1950s.

18
In hindsight, Ready and Rota proved to have incredibly good instincts. Rota assured his client that
he was making a sound purchase when he wrote,“[t]here was more than I hoped, masses of hand-
written drafts, and variant passages for all the three ‘Ring’ books…It is a great mass of unique material
4
which can occupy students for years.” He also informed Ready of two other manuscripts: the type-
script of Tolkien’s novella, Farmer Giles of Ham (1949), and a handmade children’s book. The
veteran book dealer described the latter as “one of the most enchanting things I have ever seen. It
is an entirely unpublished, original story, written for his children and illustrated by Tolkien in water-
5
colour. It is called Mr. Bliss.” Ready immediately issued instructions to purchase these additional
manuscripts.

Although there is no firm documentary evidence, Marquette University’s Jesuit, Catholic heritage
almost certainly influenced Tolkien’s decision to sell his manuscripts. Rota wrote to Ready that J.R.R.
6
Tolkien was “a convert to Roman-Catholicism from the Anglican Church – very devoted…” Ready
immediately recognized the opaque religious themes within The Lord of the Rings and knew that
Tolkien’s work would be especially appropriate for a Catholic academic library.

Tolkien and Rota continued negotiations in early 1957, investigating options aimed at limiting gov-
ernment taxation on the sale. On a follow up visit to Oxford that spring, Rota learned that Tolkien
had discovered a holograph version of The Hobbit, adding to the typescript version and printer’s
proofs previously reviewed. The professor also made it clear that he did not want the purchase price
disclosed. (In his 1977 authorized biography of Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter revealed the 1,500
7
pound, or approximately $4,900, price tag. ) A long-standing myth continues to circulate that Tolkien
sold the manuscripts to Marquette because he was hard-pressed financially. To the contrary, the
Oxford professor had received a royalty check for 10,000 pounds just a few days prior to Rota’s visit,
roughly the equivalent of two year’s salary. Marquette’s offer paled in comparison to the unexpect-
ed royalties. Rota wrote that Tolkien was “now comparatively rich for the first time in a long
8
academic career.” Marquette was the first university to express an interest in the professor’s manu-
scripts. Tolkien consulted with several advisors, considered it a fair offer, and agreed to the sale. Over
5,000 pages of original manuscripts for The Hobbit, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Lord of the Rings,
and Mr. Bliss were shipped to Milwaukee in two installments in 1957 and 1958.

Bertram Rota deserves credit for learning about Farmer Giles and Mr. Bliss, but he could have probed
even deeper. During the six-month exchange between Ready and Rota, the book dealer apparently
never inquired about any other works by Tolkien, including his ongoing project, The Silmarillion.
Tolkien’s personal and academic papers, paintings, and other literary manuscripts were eventually
placed at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University.

Ready and Rota did, however, investigate the availability of papers by other members of the Inklings
writers group, notably C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. They also considered and came very close to
acquiring the Wade Collection, a major research collection of books and papers by seven British
authors, including Tolkien, Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L.
9
Sayers, and Charles Williams. The collection was eventually acquired by Wheaton College. Only one
hundred miles apart, the research collections at Marquette and Wheaton make a visit to the upper
Midwest mandatory for all serious Tolkien scholars.

19
Tolkien accepted offers to visit and speak at Marquette in both 1957 and 1959, but on each occasion
10
he cancelled the anticipated visit due to family concerns. Ready and others at Marquette must have
been disappointed, but it is important to remember that Tolkien was several years away from reaching
a vast international audience. Although a commercial and critical success, between 1954 and 1960
11
The Lord of the Rings only sold approximately 15,000 copies. In the mid-1960s, when sales began
to skyrocket, Tolkien wrote to a library administrator that “I have deeply regretted not being able to
12
visit Marquette University, and see no present possibility of it.” The retired professor never visited
the United States.

Sr. Josephine Burns, a nun from the Daughters of Charity, worked as a student assistant in Memorial
Library in the late 1950s and conducted the initial arrangement and description of the Tolkien man-
uscripts. Over the two-week winter break of 1958-1959, she “read every scrap, time-line, [and] note,”
attempting to create some order out of the half-dozen bundles of manuscripts. Holographs, type-
scripts, and printer’s proofs were arranged in an order that followed the order of the published
13
books. For nearly twenty years Sister Burns’ accessioning provided basic intellectual access to the
manuscripts.

Ready promoted the Tolkien acquisition by loaning it to major academic libraries. Remarkably, in
1959 he loaned the entire collection to the University of Kansas and the University of Illinois for suc-
cessful exhibitions. It would have been very difficult for any library or museum to exhibit more than
14
a small fraction of the 5,000-page collection.

In 1963 William Ready left Marquette to head the library at Sacred Heart University, and, eventually,
McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Ready’s departure led to a 15-year period during which
the Tolkien collection received limited attention. As Tolkien’s popularity continued to reach new
audiences in the 1960s, the archives staff developed a traveling exhibit of selected items from the col-
lection. The exhibition kit contained 45 of the most visually intereresting documents, including the
watercolor dust jacket for The Hobbit, a page from the Book of Mazarbul, a chart about the Tengwar
15
language, and a Baggins family tree.

Charles Elston joined Marquette University as the head of the Department of Special Collections and
Archives in 1977. The library’s first professionally trained archivist, Elston immediately recognized the
enormous intellectual and public relations value of the Tolkien manuscripts. A few years later he
assisted with the publication of Mr. Bliss. He also supervised a four-year project to reprocess and
microfilm the manuscript collection, essential for the preservation of the originals. Elston’s team of
student processors did not alter Sister Burns’ arrangement, but they imposed much greater control
over the physical arrangement of the documents. A 1983 academic conference at the university,“The
16
Road Goes Ever On,” commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the acquisition.

During his long tenure at the university Elston cultivated numerous partnerships that both expanded
and brought more attention to the Tolkien Collection. While the manuscripts represent the heart of
the Tolkien Collection, Elston built a significant collection of Tolkien’s published works and an
excellent collection of critical secondary literature on Tolkien’s fantasy and academic writings. The
book collection currently numbers over 800 volumes.

20
Page 10 from Mr. Bliss
Ink and colored pencil on paper
4 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (121 x 191 mm)
Marquette University MS Tolkien, Series 4
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

21
The Tolkien manuscript collection has also expanded in recent years. In the early 1980s Elston and
his staff began assisting Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son and literary heir, as he compiled and
edited the massive The History of Middle-earth, published between 1983 and 1996. As he completed
segments of the twelve-volume series, Christopher Tolkien contributed four packets of manuscripts
to the university, containing an additional 3,071 pages of his father’s papers. Among the highlights
was a first draft of “Thror’s Map,” the only surviving leaf from the first handwritten version of The
Hobbit. The vast majority of other new additions, however, consisted of material from The Lord of
the Rings, including linguistic and philological notes relating to Tolkien’s invented languages. The
additions made by Christopher Tolkien between 1987 and 1997 often doubled the number of drafts
available for some chapters of The Lord of the Rings. Some chapters now have as many as 18
versions, substantiating Bertram Rota’s claim that the collection could “occupy students for years.”
Numerous chronologies, family trees, and two versions of the unpublished epilogue were also made
available. (Christopher Tolkien included the epilogue in volume nine of The History of Middle-earth:
Sauron Defeated, 1992).

Marquette University Libraries has benefited from the generosity of numerous Tolkien scholars and
collectors. Taum J.R. Santoski served for ten years as a volunteer staff member and Tolkien “scholar
in residence.” In this capacity Santoski studied the original manuscripts, initiated conferences and
exhibits, lectured to students and visiting classes, and assisted hundreds of researchers. Santoski,
Elston, and Dr. Curtis Carter, director of the Haggerty Museum of Art, arranged the 1987 exhibition,
17
J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings, Watercolors and Manuscripts from ‘The Hobbit.’

A major collection of periodicals produced by Tolkien enthusiasts has grown to over 120 titles from
20 countries. This portion of the J.R.R.Tolkien Collection owes a great debt to S. Gary Hunnewell, a
student of Tolkien “fandom.” Hunnewell has collected the bulk of these periodicals, including many
obscure publications from Eastern Europe. He has prepared detailed bibliographic descriptions and
loaned the collection to Marquette for microfilming on a continuing basis.

Gary Hunnewell also identified and helped negotiate for the acquisition of a movie screen treatment,
business correspondence, and other motion picture production materials dating from 1957-1958, for
a never completed animated version of The Lord of the Rings. In 1995 screenwriter Morton Grady
Zimmerman donated to Marquette the 53-page story line – with annotations by a disappointed J.R.R.
Tolkien – along with production notes and eight letters documenting the project. The Zimmerman
Collection attracted considerable interest from Tolkien scholars and enthusiasts following New Line
Cinema’s blockbuster release of The Lord of the Rings in 2001-2003.

In 2003 Grace Funk, a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, sold her extensive collection of
secondary material to Marquette. A former librarian, Funk amassed a collection of 2,376 items,
including books, journals, films, documentary videos, sound recordings, articles, and newspaper
clippings. Funk applied her training as a librarian to arranging the collection, offering researchers
convenient access to thousands of hard-to-find items.

Dr. Richard E. Blackwelder also developed a major collection of Tolkieniana. Remarkably comprehen-
sive in scope, the Blackwelder Collection may be the largest single body of secondary sources on
Tolkien ever to be developed. Blackwelder purchased everything from calendars to Ph.D. disserta-
tions about J.R.R. Tolkien, plus maps, music, exhibit posters, artwork, and limited editions of the
author’s works. Like the Funk Collection, the value is greatly enhanced by a well-defined arrangement
22 and description.
Blackwelder, a retired professor of zoology, also established the Tolkien Archives Fund at Marquette
in 1987 to provide support for the acquisition and preservation of Tolkien research material in the
Department of Special Collections. In recent years the endowment has been used to purchase
unpublished letters by J.R.R.Tolkien that offer revealing insights about his creative process. Thanks
also to the endowment, curators were able to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publica-
tion of Tolkien’s masterpiece, organizing “The Lord of the Rings, 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of
Richard E. Blackwelder.” Twenty internationally respected Tolkien scholars prepared original
research for the October, 2004, academic conference, with publication of proceedings expected in
2005. In addition, the Haggerty Museum of Art graciously agreed to host The Invented Worlds of J.R.R
Tolkien: Drawings and Original Manuscripts from the Marquette Collection. A large number of the
items featured in the exhibition were part of the 1987-1997 additions made by Christopher Tolkien
and have never been exhibited.

William Ready’s legacy at Marquette remains strong, nearly a half-century after the university hired
him to enhance the institution’s research collections. His superb instincts in acquiring the Tolkien
manuscripts were essential to the future development of the archives program. The Department of
Special Collections and Archives is now located in the new John P. Raynor, S.J., Library. A state-of-the-
art collection storage facility now preserves more than 140 manuscript collections, in addition to the
university archives and a 7,000-volume rare book collection. In the most recent reporting period the
department served researchers from all 50 states and twenty foreign countries. Moreover,Tolkien’s
literary manuscripts have attracted widespread media attention, the kind of public interest that
would have pleased the administrators who recruited Ready decades earlier. Media coverage about
the Tolkien collection peaked between 2001 and 2004, due to the enormous popularity of the films
by New Line Cinema. University officials – spanning from the admissions office to university
advancement – recognized that the manuscripts might aid them in their work, and they identified
methods of promoting Marquette by emphasizing such rich documentary collections. In 1957 Rota
congratulated Ready on his “courage in bidding for what may well be a masterpiece of the future.”
William Ready never had a doubt.

1. Unpublished letter, Bertram Rota to William Ready, May 5, 1957.


2. Files on Parade, William Ready (Scarecrow Press: New York, 1982).
3. Donor correspondence files maintained in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives
document Ready’s collecting efforts in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
4. BR to WR, May 5, 1957.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. BR to WR, May 13, 1957; Tolkien: A Biography, Humphrey Carpenter (Houghhton Mifflin: Boston, 1977), p. 224.
8. BR to WR, May 5, 1957.
9. Unpublished paper, Taum Santoski, “The History of the Marquette Tolkien Manuscripts,” 1983.
10. Ibid.
11. Conversation with Douglas A. Anderson, 2002.
12. J.R.R. Tolkien to “The Librarian,” 1966.
13. Santoski.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Unpublished papers from the conference at available in Marquette’s Department of Special Collections and Archives.
17. J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings, Watercolors and Manuscripts from ‘The Hobbit’, Milwaukee: Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty
Museum of Art, 1987.

23
Topographical view of Minas Tirith
Ink on paper
9 1/3 x 7 3/8 in. (237 x 187 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, Mss 3/1/24
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

24
Figure 1: Code letter from Tolkien to Father Francis Morgan, August 8, 1904
Ink on paper
Collection of the Bodleian library, Oxford, Ms. Tolkien drawings 86, fol. 1v
25
T he AB Language Livess
Arne Zettersten

Greatly honored by having been asked to write this essay for the catalogue of the Tolkien exhibition
at the Haggerty Museum of Art and to deliver the opening presentation at the Helfaer Theatre, I
should like to emphasize that we are actually commemorating several anniversaries connected with
Tolkien (1892-1973) this year. Not only were the first two parts of the Lord of the Rings published
in England and the first part in the United States 50 years ago, but there are also some other back-
ground events and publications to be specially considered just now. Before I explain what the AB
language is and how research concerning AB texts has developed since Tolkien coined the term AB
in 1929, I want to provide some important information about additional remembrances of things
past.

The year 1904, a hundred years ago, was a very crucial turning-point for the then 12-year-old Ronald
Tolkien. Ronald’s father had died at Bloemfontein in South Africa in 1896, and after that year, from
his fourth year onwards, Ronald’s upbringing and schooling had been in the hands of his competent
mother, Mabel Tolkien. She taught him reading and writing, drawing and painting, calligraphy and
languages like Latin, German and French.

Ronald Tolkien spent the summer of 1904 at Rednal,Worcestershire, with his diabetes-ridden mother
and his younger brother Hilary. He was involved in constructing alphabets with codes for every letter
in the English alphabet as early as this. It was during this summer that he wrote the remarkable code
letter (dated August 8, 1904) to the family friend, the Catholic Father Francis Morgan of the
Birmingham Oratory, Edgbaston, Birmingham. See fig.1. The letter, which is kept at the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, ends with the following limerick:

There was an old priest named Francis


Who was so fond of “cheefongy” dances
That he sat up too late
And worried his pate
Arranging these Frenchified Prances

As an example of his thinking in words and codes, we could look at the opening phrase of the letter:
“M-eye deer owl-d France-hiss”, which is composed of: the figure 1,000=M, an eye, a deer, an owl, a
map of France, and a hissing snake=’hiss’.

Rednal was the place where Ronald later on constructed a new artificial language, called “Nevbosh”
or “New Nonsense” together with his cousin Mary, who lived in a neighboring village. It only survives
in the form of a limerick written about a hundred years ago and was published in Tolkien’s essay,“A
Secret Vice” from 1931, and in Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Tolkien with a translation:

26
Dar fys ma vel gom co palt ‘hoc
Pys go iskili far maino woc?
Pro si go fys do roc de
Do cat ym maino bocte
De volt fac soc ma taimful gyroc!

(There was an old man who said, How


Can I possibly carry a cow?
For if I were to ask it
To get in my basket
It would make such a terrible row!)

Tolkien points out in his essay that Nevbosh was mainly based on English, but that many words had
been changed or distorted. One can, for example, observe a simple systematic change in words
ending on –ow. The word cow turns into woc by reversed order of letters, how is changed into hoc
and row into gyroc, with an additional prefix gy-. Some influence from French words can be found
in si=if and vel=old. Tolkien also mentions in his essay that the dominance of his mother tongue
English could give the impression of being a ‘code’.

About this time of the year, a hundred years ago, Mabel Tolkien’s condition grew worse, and she died
from her diabetes on November 14, 1904. Well in advance she had agreed with Father Francis
Morgan that he should act as the guardian of the two brothers in case of her death. From then on,
we can talk about the main turning-point in Tolkien’s life. He was now parentless, had a Catholic
father-figure as his guardian, had started to construct artificial languages and went to a good
academic school, where his head-teacher started early to introduce Beowulf and Chaucer to a most
remarkable pupil.

At my latest visit to the Bodleian Library, I held in my hand one of Tolkien’s old dictionaries,
Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary. The copy looks rather thumbed and over-used. However there
is a little note attached to the book, made by Tolkien in February, 1973, saying that this dictionary had
awakened his interest in Germanic philology and philology in general (around 1904).

We cannot claim with any certainty that Tolkien had started at this stage on any early sub-creation of
his secondary world or Middle-earth. It is not until 1910 that his first poem “Wood-sunshine” dealing
with elves is recorded. It is not until 1911 that he found a postcard in Switzerland, which he later
on explained was his first notion of ‘Gandalf’. But—maybe—these signs could indicate that Ronald
had already started to form ideas that we might call embryonic stages of a planned secondary world
not long after 1904, nearly a hundred years ago.

Now over to a different anniversary. Seventy-five years ago, the intriguing AB language was identified
by Tolkien in a famous essay,“Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meidhad”, published in Essays and Studies
14 (1929), which makes this year, 2004, even more remarkable as a Tolkien jubilee year.The following
comment by Tom Shippey on Tolkien’s essay has been much quoted:“the most perfect though not
the best-known of his academic pieces” (The Road to Middle-earth, 36). Tolkien was able to show
in his essay that the scribes of MS Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, of the Ancrene Riwle, also
called the Ancrene Wisse (=A) and MS Bodley 34 of the Katherine Group (=B) used a language and

27
spelling nearly “as indistinguishable as that of two modern printed books”. Tolkien had hereby
proposed the existence of a “new” Middle English literary standard, which he called AB.

There are clear signs that literary standards had existed in Old English besides Late West Saxon. This
is true of the Mercian type of dialect found in the Vespasian Psalter Gloss from the ninth century.
There is an obvious continuity of writing traditions from this westerly part of England in Old English
time to the West Midlands of England in the thirteenth century, where the AB language was located.
Due to the fact that the Franciscans and the Dominicans are mentioned in the Ancrene Wisse, we may
assume that the manuscript was written after the time when these two categories of friars arrived in
England (1224 and 1221 respectively), most probably in the second quarter of the thirteenth century.

The connections between the manuscripts of the Ancrene Riwle and those of the Katherine Group
had been touched on by some previous scholars. It was, however, J.R.R.Tolkien who pointed out the
close relationship in language and spelling, almost amounting to identity, between the Ancrene Wisse
(A) and Bodley MS of the Katherine Group (B). Nowhere else in Middle English literature do we find
two different manuscripts of two different literary works copied by different scribes that show such
obvious similarities. It is clear that the two manuscripts must be connected in time and place.

These unique circumstances led Tolkien to suppose either (i) that A or B or both are originals, or (ii)
that A or B are in whole or part accurate translations, or (iii) that the vanished originals of A and B
were in this same language (AB), and so belonged to practically the same period and place as the
copies we have. The first possibility can at once be dismissed. Neither A nor B can be originals.
Tolkien does not think that an accurate translation is credible. He firmly believes that the originals
of A and B were written in the same language and spelling (AB) as the copies. He admits that the
spelling suggests obedience to some school or authority. This school was the center or learning
where the AB language was taught, read and written.

Tolkien placed the AB language in the West Midlands, more specifically in Herefordshire. E.J. Dobson
developed Tolkien’s research even further and concluded that Wigmore Abbey in north-west
Herefordshire was the place of origin of the Ancrene Wisse. He further suggested that the author was
“Brian(us) of Lingen”, a secular canon of Wigmore. Dobson proposed that the sentence ‘Inoh me∆ ful
Ich am, †e bidde se lutel’=’I am moderate enough, who ask for so little’ (fol. 117v) conceals a pun on
Brian’s name (Lat. Bria=’moderate’) and an anagram of Linthehum (‘of Lingen’). See Dobson’s
Origins of Ancrene Wisse, 349-53. This type of conclusion based on a pun and an anagram would
certainly have been to Tolkien’s liking, had he still been alive when it was put forward (in 1976).
Dobson’s proposition has been doubted later on, and the localization now regarded as the most
credible is the one based on the data of the Linguistic Atlas of Late Middle English (forthcoming).
According to Jeremy Smith, the localization based on the Atlas is North Herefordshire or the
southern tip of Shropshire. See B. Millet, et al, Ancrene Wisse, The Katherine Group, and the Wooing
Group, 11, n.7.

The Ancrene Riwle (meaning ‘a rule or guide for female recluses’) is considered one of the finest
pieces of prose from the early Middle English period. Its language is elegant and varied, rich in vocab-
ulary and memorable phrases, full of wit and intricate allusions. It is the most cited text from
medieval literature in the Oxford English Dictionary apart from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
although it cannot pride itself by the same universal renown as Chaucer’s masterpiece. It was orig-

28
†∆

inally written for three daughters of good family and solid learning who had withdrawn from the
world to live a solitary life in contemplation and devotion. The anchorites or recluses often lived in
small rooms or cells attached to a church. In some cases such a room had a little opening in the wall
leading into a slit in the church wall (a so-called squint, also called hagioscope) to allow the
anchorites to observe the side altar.

qwertyuiop[]\a
The title Ancrene Riwle is not recorded as a phrase in any of the existing manuscripts, so one could

asdfghjkl;’
point out that it has no medieval authority, as Ancrene Wisse (of the same meaning) has, being
recorded on fol. 1r of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 402.The former title was decided to be
used by the Early English Text Society.The tendency now is that more and more scholars prefer the

zxcvbnm,./
latter title, the Ancrene Wisse.

The Katherine Group is a closely related group of five prose texts, most fully preserved in MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 34, namely, St.Katherine, St.Margarete, St.Juliana, Hali Mei?had and
Sawles Warde.

QWERTYUIOP{}|
In 1962 Tolkien continued his AB language research by completing his edition of the Ancrene Wisse

ASDFGHJKL:”
for the Early English Text Society, Oxford University Press. The aim of this long-term Oxford project
was to edit all the 17 manuscripts, which started with the Latin and French editions in 1944. I had
the pleasure and privilege of being a member of this group of scholars, who edited the various man-

ZXCVBNM<>?
uscripts between 1944 and the year 2000. Tolkien edited the most important of the versions, from
which I learned enormously for my doctoral thesis published in 1965, and I completed three further
manuscripts in the series in 1963, 1974 and 2000, the latter in cooperation with Bernhard Diensberg,
Bonn. It is a pleasure to realize that the Ancrene Riwle project was finally completed just in time
for the first film in the Lord of the Rings series.

One of the reasons why I was asked to make the opening presentation at the Tolkien exhibiton was
because I had the privilege of knowing Tolkien. We worked in the same field and editorial project for
the Early English Text Society, Oxford, and I saw him more or less regularly through the whole of the
1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, except for a few years when he lived at Bournemouth, until a
few weeks before he died in September, 1973.

The manuscripts of the Ancrene Riwle, which have now all been edited by the Early English Text
Society, are listed below, including indications of the approximate datings:

A: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 402


Tolkien, J.R.R. (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle, Ancrene
Wisse, edited from MS. Corpus Christi College Cambridge 402, EETS o.s.
249 (London, 1962). Date: second quarter of the 13th c.
C: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Cleopatra C. vi
Dobson, E. J. (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from B.M
Cotton MS. Cleopatra C. vi, EEETS o.s. 267 (London, 1972). Date second
quarter of the 13th c.
F: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Vitellius F. vii
Herbert, J.A. (ed.), The French Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from
British Museum MS. Cotton Vitellius F vii, EETS o.s. 219 (London, 1944).
Date: early 14th c.
29
G: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS. 234/120
Wilson, R.M. (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from
Gonville and Caius College MS. 234/120, EETS o.s. 229 (London, 1954).
Date: second half of the 13th c.
N: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Nero A. xiv
Day, Mabel (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from
Cotton Nero A. XIV, EETS o.s. 225 (London, 1952). Date: second quarter of
the 13th c.
O: Bodleian Library, MS. Eng. th. c. 70 (The Lanhydrock Fragment)
Mack, Frances M. and A. Zettersten (eds.), The English Text of the Ancrene
Riwle edited from Cotton MS. Titus D. XVIII, together with the
Lanhydrock Fragment, Bodleian MS. Eng. th.c. 70, EETS o.s. 252
(London,1963). Date: first half of the 14th c.
P: Cambridge, Magdalene College, MS: Pepys 2498
Zettersten,Arne (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from
Magdalene College, Cambridge MS. Pepys 2498, EETS o.s. 274 (London,
1976). Date: second half of the 14th c.
R: London, British Library, MS. Royal 8. CI
Baugh, A.C. (ed.), The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited from
British Museum MS. Royal 8 CI, EETS o.s. 232 (London, 1956). Date: 15th
c.
T: London, British Library, MS. Cotton Titus D. cviii
Mack, Frances M. and A. Zettersten (eds.), The English Text of the Ancrene
Riwle edited from Cotton MS. Titus D. XVIII, together with the
Lanhydrock Fragment, Bodleian MS. Eng. th. c. 70, EETS o.s. 252
(London, 1963). Date: second quarter of the 13th c.
L: Merton College, Oxford, MS. C. I. 5
d’Evelyn, Charlotte (ed.), The Latin Text of the Ancrene Riwle, EETS o.s.
216 (London, 1944). Date: first half of the 14th c. The edition contains
variant readings from the following MSS:
Magdalen College, Oxford, Latin MS. 67
Date: late 14th or early 15th c.
British Museum Cotton MS. Vitellius E. VII
Date: first half of the 14th c.
British Museum MS. Royal 7 C.X.
Date: first half of the 16th c.
S: Trethewey, W.H. (ed.), The French Text of the Ancrene Riwle edited
from the Trinity College Cambridge MS. R. 14. 7, EETS o.s. 240 (London,
1958)
V: Bodleian, MS. Eng. poet. a 1 (MS. Vernon)
Zettersten,Arne and B. Diensberg (eds.), The English Text of the Ancrene
Riwle edited from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Eng. Poet. a.1, EETS o.s.
310 (London, 2000). Date: second half of the 14th c.

30
The first scholar to analyse the stemma of the Ancrene Riwle in great detail was Eric Dobson in
“Affiliations of the Manuscripts of Ancrene Wisse”, published in the Festschrift for Professor Tolkien
on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in 1962. See fig. 2.Yoko Wada in her “Temptations from
Ancrene Wisse” provides an “extended stemma,” in which she illustrates Dobson’s views of the
influence of the revised text from a lost copy, being a parallel to A, on V, L and P.

Figure. 2: From E.J. Dobson,“The affiliations of the Manuscripts


of Ancrene Wisse,” in N. Davis and C.L. Wrenn (eds), English and
Medieval Studies Presented to J.R.R. Tolkien on the Occasion of
his Seventieth Birthday (London, 1962), p. 137

As Wada rightly observes (p. 82),“No proper assessment of Dobson’s textual history or of his extraor-
dinary comprehension and precise account of the early history of Ancrene Wisse can be undertaken,
however, until these have been studied in the cold light of variorum texts of those parts of the work
which can be so treated.”

In the course of the latter half of the twentieth century, Ancrene Riwle studies were characterized
by a large scholarly output, due to a great number of highly interesting unsolved problems conncect-
ed with authorship, provenance, sources, stemmatic relations, vocabulary, style, monastic tradition,
audience, etc. Towards the end of the twentieth century many new research areas came into focus,
such as feministic readings of several AB texts. This is made clear by Bella Millett’s comprehensive

31
annotated bibliography published in 1996 with the assistance of George B. Jack and Yoko Wada.
Additional bibliographic material is also provided by Roger Dahood in his article “The Current State
of Ancrene Wisse Group Studies” in Medieval English Studies Newsletter, No. 36 (1997), 6-14, and by
Robert Hasenfratz in Ancrene Wisse, 38-54. An excellent example of how clearly AB research has
moved forward at the beginning of the new millennium, can be found in Yoko Wada’s A
Compendium to Ancrene Wisse (2002). Particularly the article by Richard Dance, called “The AB
Language: the Recluse, the Gossip and the Language Historian” (57-82), provides new information on
a number of issues connected with the AB language.

Furthermore, there are many new possibilities regarding textual analysis that have been brought to
light with regard to the use of modern electronic techniques. One such innovation has been intro-
duced by a Japanese reseach group headed by Tadao Kubouchi. The Tokyo Medieval Manuscript
Reading Group launched in 1996 a project for an “Electronic Corpus of Diplomatic Parallel
Manuscript Texts as a Tool for Historical Studies of English.” Electronic Parallel Diplomatic
Manuscript Texts of the Ancrene Wisse (2001) is their first undertaking. The final version of their
Ancrene Wisse texts will contain in computer-readable text-file form, all the relevant English manu-
script texts.

With regard to future directions in Ancrene Riwle studies, it would seem that rewarding paths are
likely to be found in the ever-enhanced possibilities of hypertext software. Bella Millett, who is
currently working on a critical edition of the Ancrene Wisse together with Richard Dance, has noted
with approval a suggestion made by Bernard Cerquiglini that certain medieval works might prof-
itably be studied with the aid of the computer’s inherent dialogic and multidimensional potentials,
allowing the presentation of multiple versions of a text simultaneously on the screen. However she
also admits that such an enterprise is likely to exceed the limited resources currently available to
most academic institutions, but we may find hope in the increasing sophistication of many kinds of
computers which are becoming more widely affordable and available.

Cerquiglini’s idea of a possible hypertext edition of Ancrene Riwle harmonizes rather nicely with a
notion of my own which I put forth about seven years ago in an article published in the Japanese
periodical, Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature, 12 (1997), 1-28. My own idea was
to employ new computer technologies to create a multi-media version of the textual affiliations of
Middle English manuscripts. I believe that it may be possible in the future to make use of virtual
reality techniques and construct different scenarios for different versions of the Ancrene Riwle, sim-
ulating different dialectical regions and later versions.

Naturally, the difficulties in aiming at virtual reality work are overwhelming. First of all, our basis for
reconstruction is a series of literary texts in written form. These written manifestations would cor-
respond to underlying phonemes but their reconstruction would imply a great deal of insecurity.
Secondly, the financial backing needs to be quite enormous. To create programs for simulating
Middle English dialects would, indeed, be time-consuming and costly. The gains from this theoretical
project would on the other hand be most interesting from a pedagogical point of view. There would
be versions in different dialects and intended for different audiences.

What would actually be needed from Ancrene Riwle research in order to prepare for such a future
and (at least at present) unrealistic scenario? It took 58 years for the Early English Text Society to

32
complete the series of diplomatic editions of the seventeen versions. I am myself responsible for
extending this period of editing so far by working rather long on the final two editions.

However, I should like to summarize what could be the desiderata of Ancrene Riwle research, if
something nearing a virtual reality scenario is to be achieved. I base this concluding list of desider-
ata on my previous list published in the periodical referred to above (p.18). My view is that we
need:
1. Further definite conclusions regarding the affiliations of the manuscripts of
the Ancrene Riwle, based on all the edited manuscripts.
2. A full critical edition of the Ancrene Riwle. The first step towards this could
be exclusive of the later versions.
3. A reconstruction of the evidence for
a) the exact localization of all the manuscripts
b) the origin of the tradition
c) the type of religious order
d) the original author
e) the definition and role of the AB language
4. A completion of the linguistic atlas of Early Medieval English
5. Further linguistic studies regarding
a) the relations between spelling and pronunciation in Middle English
b) the evidence of monastic material
c) word-geography
d) dialect boundaries

This rather daunting proposition should be contemplated in relation to all other electronic innova-
tions like the use of hypertext software (Cerquiglini) mentioned above, the Electronic Parallel
Diplomatic Manuscript Texts (1997-2001) printed by the Tokyo Medieval Manuscript Reading Group
headed by Tadao Kubouchi, The Concordance to Ancrene Wisse, edited by Potts, Stevenson and
Wagan-Brown (1993), and the Middle English Compendium, developed at the University of Michigan.

The Middle English Compendium offers access to and interconnectivity among three major Middle
English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary (MED), a
HyperBibliography of Middle English Prose and Verse based on the MED bibliographies, and a
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse.

It deserves to be noted here that Manfred Markus of the University of Innsbruck is engaged in the
completion of a machine-readable corpus of the AB language. See his “Getting to grips with Chips and
Early Middle English text variants: sampling Ancrene Riwle and Hali Meidenhad,” in the ICAME
Journal, No.23, April 1999, 35-51. The aim of this project is to find out about the norms of the AB
language and to make available a machine-readable corpus that scholars can use for a variety of
purposes, for example comparative studies of all kinds.

It is obvious that—with the wealth of new electronic tools like the above-mentioned new products—
we can hope for speedy developments and continuations of exciting projects related to the AB
language.We have a long way to go before we get a glimpse of my own—admittedly slightly unreal-
istic—proposition above, but it is a good idea to dream in the spirit of Tolkien and maybe one day get

33
more pedagogical substance from the enigmatic notion, called AB. If that could coincide with the
future publishing of the new critical edition of the Ancrene Riwle, announced by Bella Millet and
Richard Dance, we would indeed do justice to Tolkien’s own supposition that the AB language would
continue to attract attention and create a new ‘literature’ of its own.

It would also justify the comments by another of Tolkien’s pupils, Dr. Robert Burchfield, the eminent
editor of the four-volume Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary (1972-86), who noted about
Tolkien in The Independent Magazine, 1 March, 1989:“Everything he touched turned to scholarly
gold.” My own view is that this is true of his scholarly as well as his fictional writing.

Since I come from the north of Europe and represent decidedly harsher climates than Tolkien’s
beloved West Midlands of England, I should like conclude this essay by quoting one of Tolkien’s lesser
known artificial languages, namely Arctic, the language spoken at the North pole according to Father
Christmas in Tolkien’s The Father Christmas Letters (ed. by Baille Tolkien, 1976). Karhu, the Polar
Bear, who invented a special alphabet from Goblin marks on the walls of the Cave-Bear’s caves (see
fig. 3), says in an appendix to this delightful book:

Mara mesta an ni véla tye ento, ya rato nea, which is translated ‘Goodbye till I see you next, and I
hope it will be very soon.’

Figure 3:
Prehistoric drawings from the Goblins’ cave walls, 1932
The ‘Father Christmas’ letters , 1920-43
Ink on paper
Collection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Mss Tolkien
drawings, 58, fol. 54

34
J.R.R. Tolkien Biography

1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien born January 3, at Bloemfontein, South Africa, to Arthur
and Mabel Suffield Tolkien.

Father Arthur Tolkien dies. Family moves near Sarehole Mill, outside Birmingham.

1899 Enters King Edward VI School, Birmingham.

Mother Mabel Tolkien dies.

1908 Meets Edith Bratt.

Enters Exeter College, Oxford University.

Obtains First Class in English Language and Literature, Exeter College.


Commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Marries Edith Bratt. Joins the British Army. On active duty overseas from June to
November. Fights in the Battle of the Somme. Returns to England suffering from
“trench fever”.

1917 Begins writing The Book of Lost Tales. First son, John, is born.

1918 Joins the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary.

1920 Appointed Reader in English Language at Leeds University. Birth of second son,
Michael.

1924 Appointed Professor of English Language at Leeds University. Birth of third son,
Christopher.

1925 Publication of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with E.V. Gordon. Elected
Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University.

1926 Becomes friends with C.S. Lewis.

1929 Daughter Priscilla born. Publication of the essay Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meithhad
or “Holy Virginity”.

1930? Begins to write The Hobbit.

1936 Manuscript of The Hobbit read by Susan Dagnall of Allen and Unwin, and at her
suggestion Tolkien finishes the book. It is accepted for publication. Delivers lecture
on Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics to the British Academy.

35
1937 Publication of The Hobbit.At the suggestion of Stanley Unwin,Tolkien begins a
sequel which becomes The Lord of the Rings.

1939 Delivers lecture On Fairy-Stories at St.Andrews University.

1945 Elected Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University.

1949 Completion of The Lord of the Rings. Publication of Farmer Giles of Ham.

1954 Publication of the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of
the Ring and The Two Towers).

1955 Publication of The Return of the King.

1959 Retires from Oxford University.

1962 Publication of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and Other Verses from the Red
Book, and Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle.

1964 Publication of Tree and Leaf.

1965 Unauthorized American edition of The Lord of the Rings published by Ace Books.A
“campus cult” begins.

` Publication of Smith of Wootton Major.

Moves to Poole, near Bournemouth.

1971 Edith Tolkien dies.

1972 Returns to Oxford, moves to Merton Street.Awarded the C.B.E. (Commander, Order
of the British Empire). Receives an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford
University.

1973 On August 28 he goes to Bournemouth to stay with friends. Becomes ill and dies in
a nursing home on September 2 at the age of 81.

1976 Publication of The Father Christmas Letters. Exhibition,“Drawings by Tolkien,”


Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, December 14, 1976–February 27, 1977.

Publication of The Silmarillion, edited by Christopher Tolkien. Exhibition at the


National Book League, London, March 2–April 7.

Publication of Unfinished Tales, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

Publication of Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter with the


assistance of Christopher Tolkien.

36
1983-96 Publication of The History of Middle-earth in twelve volumes, edited by
Christopher Tolkien.

Fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit; Exhibition of drawings and


paintings for The Hobbit, Bodleian Library, Oxford, February – May; Exhibition,
“J.R.R.Tolkien: Drawings,Watercolors, and Manuscripts from The Hobbit,” Patrick
and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, June 11–September 30.

2004 The Invented Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: Drawings and Original Manuscripts from
the Marquette University Collection, Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art,
Marquette University, October 21– January 30, 2005; The Lord of the Rings, 1954-
2004: Scholarship in Honor of Dr. Richard E. Blackwelder International
Conference, Marquette University (October 22-23), Milwaukee WI.

Synoptic Time-Scheme
Ink on paper, recto and verso
7 5/8 x 10 3/8 in. (194 x 264 mm)
Marquette University MS. Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:6
Courtesy of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited, ©The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust

37
Select Tolkien Bibliography

Listed by date of first publication. Texts by Tolkien “On Fairy-Stories” in Essays Presented to Charles
in his invented languages of Middle-earth have been Williams. Ed. C.S. Lewis. London: Oxford University
published in the journals Vinyar Tengwar and Press, 1947.
Parma Eldalamberon.
Farmer Giles of Ham. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
A Middle English Vocabulary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1949; Boston:
1922. Also published in Fourteenth Century Verse & Houghton Mifflin, 1950. 50th anniversary ed., including
Prose. Ed. Kenneth Sisam, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922. the earliest text and notes for an unpublished sequel,
with introduction and annotations by Christina Scull
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Ed. J.R.R.Tolkien and and Wayne G. Hammond, London: HarperCollins;
E.V. Gordon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925. 2nd ed. rev. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
by Norman Davis, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.
“The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son” in
“Ancrene Wisse and Hali Mei had” in Essays and Studies Essays and Studies 1953. Collected by Geoffrey
by Members of the English Association, vol. 14. Bullough. London: John Murray, 1953.
Collected by H.W. Garrod. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929.
The Lord of the Rings, comprising The Fellowship of
“Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve’s Tale” in the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
Transactions of the Philological Society, London: David London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954–55; Boston:
Nutt, 1934. Houghton Mifflin, 1954–56. Rev. ed., New York:
Ballantine Books, 1965; London: George Allen & Unwin,
Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. London: 1966 (with further changes, 1967); Boston: Houghton
Humphrey Milford, 1937. Mifflin, 1967. Further corrected and emended in later
editions and printings; most of these since Houghton
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. London: George Mifflin, 1987 include a “Note on the Text” by Douglas A.
Allen & Unwin, 1937; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938. Anderson. 50th anniversary ed., with added note by
Rev. eds. 1951, 1966, 1978, etc.Also published as The Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, London:
Annotated Hobbit, introduction and notes by Douglas A. HarperCollins, 2004; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Anderson, Boston: Houghton Mifflin; London:
HarperCollins, 1988, 2002. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses
from the Red Book. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.
The Reeve’s Tale:Version Prepared for Recitation at the London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962; Boston:
“Summer Diversions.” Ed.“J.R.R.T.” Oxford: Privately Houghton Mifflin, 1963.
printed, 1939. In Middle English.
Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle.
Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment: A Translation Ed. J.R.R.Tolkien. Early English Text Society, Original
into Modern English Prose by John R. Clark Hall. New Series no. 249. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
ed., rev. C.L.Wrenn. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1940.
With prefatory remarks by Tolkien on the prose transla- “English and Welsh” in Angles and Britons: O’Donnell
tion of Beowulf. Lectures. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1963.

Sir Orfeo. Oxford:The Academic Copying Office, 1944. In Tree and Leaf. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1964;
Middle English, a version edited anonymously by Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965. Reprints Tolkien’s
Also published in Tolkien Studies, vol. 1 (2004): 85-123, lecture “On Fairy-Stories” and his short story “Leaf by
with commentary by Carl F. Hostetter. Niggle.” New ed., with introduction by Christopher
Tolkien and “Mythopoeia,” London: Unwin Hyman,
“Leaf by Niggle” in Dublin Review, London, January 1945. 1988; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.Another ed., also
includes “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
“The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun” in Welsh Review, Cardiff, Beorhthelm’s Son,” London: HarperCollins, 2001.
December 1945.

38
The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine, 1966. Reprints Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Ed.
Tolkien’s verse drama “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen & Unwin,
Beorhthelm’s Son,” Tree and Leaf, Farmer Giles of Ham 1980; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.
and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses
from the Red Book. Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter, with
the assistance of Christopher Tolkien. London: George
Smith of Wootton Major. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. Allen & Unwin, 1981; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981;
London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967; Boston: Houghton reissued with a new index by Christina Scull and Wayne
Mifflin, 1967. G. Hammond, London: HarperCollins, 1999; Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle. Poems and callig-
raphy by J.R.R.Tolkien. Music by Donald Swann. Boston: The Old English Exodus. Text, translation, and commen-
Houghton Mifflin, 1967; London: George Allen & Unwin, tary by J.R.R.Tolkien. Ed. Joan Turville-Petre. Oxford:
1968. 2nd ed., also includes “Bilbo’s Last Song,” Boston: Clarendon Press, 1981.
Houghton Mifflin, 1978; London: George Allen & Unwin,
1978. 3rd ed., also includes “Lúthien Tinuviel,” London: Mr. Bliss. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982; Boston:
HarperCollins, 2002. Houghton Mifflin, 1983.

Bilbo’s Last Song. First published in poster form, Boston: Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode.Text
Houghton Mifflin, 1974; illustrated by Pauline Baynes, by J.R.R.Tolkien. Ed.Alan Bliss. London: George Allen &
London: George Allen & Unwin, 1974. In book form, with Unwin, 1982; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
new illustrations by Pauline Baynes, London: Unwin
Hyman, 1990; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. New ed., The History of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. 12
with abbreviated illustrations by Pauline Baynes, London: vols.: The Book of Lost Tales, Parts One and Two; The
Hutchinson, 2002; New York:Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. Lays of Beleriand, The Shaping of Middle-earth, The
Lost Road and Other Writings, The Return of the
“Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings” in A Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, The War of the Ring,
Tolkien Compass. Ed. Jared Lobdell. La Salle, IL: Open Sauron Defeated, Morgoth’s Ring, The War of the Jewels,
Court, 1975. The Peoples of Middle-earth. London: George Allen &
Unwin, Unwin Hyman, HarperCollins, 1983–96; Boston:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. Houghton Mifflin, 1984–96.
Translated by J.R.R.Tolkien. Ed. Christopher Tolkien.
London: George Allen & Unwin, 1975; Boston: Houghton The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Ed.
Mifflin, 1975. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen & Unwin,
1983; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984. Reprints Beowulf:
The Father Christmas Letters. Ed. Baillie Tolkien. London: The Monsters and the Critics,“On Translating Beowulf”
George Allen & Unwin, 1976; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, (preface to Beowulf and the Finnesburg Fragment),“On
1976. Partially reprinted as Letters from Father Fairy-Stories,” and the lecture “English and Welsh”; also
Christmas, London: CollinsChildren’sBooks, 1994; Boston: includes lectures “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and
Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Rev. and enl. ed., also as Letters “A Secret Vice,” and “Valedictory Address to the University
from Father Christmas, London: HarperCollins, 1999; of Oxford.”
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Tales from the Perilous Realm. London: HarperCollins,
The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: 1997. Reprints Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of
George Allen & Unwin, 1977; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book,
1977. 2nd ed., London: HarperCollins, 1999; Boston: “Leaf by Niggle,” and Smith of Wootton Major.
Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
Roverandom. Ed. Christina Scull and Wayne G.
“Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford, 5 June Hammond. London: HarperCollins, 1998; Boston:
1959” in J.R.R. Tolkien, Scholar and Storyteller: Essays in Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Memoriam. Ed. Mary Salu and Robert T. Farrell. Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1979.Another version is Beowulf and the Critics. Ed. Michael D.C. Drout.Tempe,
published in The Monsters and the Critics and Other AZ:Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies,
Essays. 2002. Preliminary texts for Beowulf: The Monsters and
the Critics.
39
Select List of Works about Tolkien as an Artist Select List of Books by Tolkien Scholars

Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings by J.R.R. Allan, Jim, ed. An Introduction to Elvish. Hays, Middlesex:
Tolkien. Introduction by Baillie Tolkien. Biographical Bran’s Head Books, 1978.
introduction by Humphrey Carpenter. Catalogue entries
by the Countess of Caithness and Ian Lowe, assisted by Anderson, Douglas A., and Marjorie Burns, eds. J.R.R.
Christopher Tolkien.Ashmolean Museum, 14 December Tolkien: Interviews, Reminiscences, and Other Essays.
1976–27 February 1977; National Book League, 2 Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
March–7 April 1977. Oxford:Ashmolean Museum;
London: National Book League, 1976. Battarbee, K.J., ed. Scholarship & Fantasy: Proceedings of
the Tolkien Phenomenon, May 1992.Turku, Finland:
Drawings for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bodleian University of Turku, 1993.
Library, Oxford University, 24 February–23 May 1987.
Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1987. Birzer, Bradley J. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth:
Understanding Middle-earth.Wilmington, DE: ISI Books,
Ellison, John.“Tolkien’s Art.” Mallorn (journal of the 2002.
Tolkien Society) 30 (September 1993): 21–8.
Blackwelder, Richard E. A Tolkien Thesaurus. New York
Hammond,Wayne G., and Christina Scull. J.R.R. Tolkien: and London: Garland, 1990.
Artist & Illustrator. London: Harper Collins, 1995; Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Corrected paperback ed., 2000. Carpenter, Humphrey. The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R.
Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends. London:
J.R.R Tolkien: The Hobbit Drawings, Watercolors, and George Allen & Unwin, 1978; Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
Manuscripts. Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of 1979.
Art, Marquette University, 11 June–30 September 1987.
Milwaukee: Marquette University, 1987. ———. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. London: George Allen
& Unwin, 1977; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977 (as
Patterson, Nancy-Lou.“Tree and Leaf: J.R.R.Tolkien and Tolkien: A Biography). Rev. ed., London: Unwin Hyman,
the Visual Image.” English Quarterly 7, no. 1 (Spring 1987; London: HarperCollins, 1998; Boston: Houghton
1974): 11–26. Mifflin, 2000.

Priestman, Judith. J.R.R. Tolkien: Life and Legend:An exhi- Chance, Jane. Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of
bition to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Power. New York:Twayne Publishers, 1992. Rev. ed.,
J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) Bodleian Library, 17 August–23 Lexington, KY:The University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
December 1992. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1992.
———. Tolkien’s Art: A Mythology for England. New York:
Santoski,T.J.R. The Manuscripts of JRRT. Marquette St. Martin’s Press, 1979. Rev. ed., Lexington, KY: University
University Library, Department of Special Collections and of Kentucky Press, 2001.
University Archives, 12–23 September 1983. Milwaukee:
Marquette University, 1983. (Out of print.) ———, ed. Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader.
Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2004.
Tolkien, J.R.R. Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Christopher
Tolkien. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1979; Boston: ———, ed. Tolkien the Medievalist. New York: Routledge,
Houghton Mifflin, 1979. 2nd ed., London: HarperCollins, 2003.
1992; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. Contains reproduc-
tions of pictures by Tolkien in previous Allen & Unwin Clark, George, and Daniel Timmons, eds. J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien calendars. and His Literary Resonances:Views of Middle-earth.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Tolkien, Priscilla.“My Father the Artist.” Amon Hen
(bulletin of the Tolkien Society) 23(December 1976): 6–7. Crabbe, Katharyn W. J.R.R. Tolkien. New York: Frederick
Ungar, 1981. Rev. and expanded ed., New York:
Continuum, 1988.

40
Curry, Patrick. Defending Middle-earth. Edinburgh: Floris Hammond,Wayne G., and Christina Scull. The Lord of the
Books, 1997; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. Rings Annotated: A Guide to Its Text, Sources, and
Meaning (working title). London: HarperCollins, forth-
Dickerson, Matthew T. Following Gandalf: Epic Battles coming 2005; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings. Grand
Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2003. Harvey, David. The Song of Middle-earth: J.R.R. Tolkien’s
Themes, Symbols, and Myths. London: George Allen &
Drout, Michael D.C., Douglas A.Anderson, and Verlyn Unwin, 1985.
Flieger, eds. Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly
Review. Morgantown,WV:West Virginia University Press, Helms, Randel. Tolkien’s World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2004 (continuing). 1974; London:Thames and Hudson, 1974.

———. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings: A Guide to ———. Tolkien and the Silmarils. Boston: Houghton
Middle-earth. London:Azure, 2001; Mahwah, NJ: Mifflin, 1981; London:Thames and Hudson, 1981.
HiddenSpring, 2001. Reworking of The Tolkien and
Middle-earth Handbook (1992). Isaacs, Neil D., and Rose A. Zimbardo, eds. Tolkien and
the Critics: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the
Flieger,Verlyn. Interrupted Music: Tolkien’s Making of a Rings. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,
Mythology. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, forth- 1970.
coming 2005.
———, eds. Tolkien: New Critical Perspectives. Lexington,
———. A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Road to KY:The University Press of Kentucky, 1981. Selections
Faerie. Kent, OH:The Kent State University Press, 1997. from this and the preceding collection are reprinted in
the editors’ Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The
———. Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Best of Tolkien Criticism, Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
Tolkien’s World. Grand Rapids, MI:Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004.
1983. Rev. ed., Kent, OH: Kent State University Press,
2002. Johnson, J.A. [Judith Anne]. J.R.R. Tokien: Six Decades of
Criticism.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986.
——— and Carl F. Hostetter, eds. Tolkien’s Legendarium:
Essays on The History of Middle-earth.Westport, CT: Jönsson, Åke. A Tolkien Bibliography, 1911-1980:
Greenwood Press, 2000. Writings By and About J.R.R. Tolkien. Orebro, Sweden:
Jonsson, 1984.
Fonstad, Karen Wynn. The Atlas of Middle-Earth. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Rev. ed., Boston: Houghton Kocher, Paul H. Master of Middle Earth: The Fiction of
Mifflin, 1991; London: Grafton, 1992. J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972; London:
Thames and Hudson, 1973.
Foster, Robert. The Complete Guide to Middle-earth:
From The Hobbit to The Silmarillion. New York: Kocher, Paul H. A Reader’s Guide to the Silmarillion.
Ballantine Books, 1978; London: George Allen & Unwin, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.
1978. Later published with page
references altered to suit subsequent editions of Tolkien’s Leaves from the Tree: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shorter Fiction.
works. London:The Tolkien Society, 1991.

Garth, John. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Lobdell, Jared, ed. A Tolkien Compass. LaSalle, IL: Open
Middle-earth. London: HarperCollins, 2003; Boston: Court, 1975. 2nd ed., Chicago: Open Court, 2004
Houghton Mifflin, 2003. (omitting Tolkien’s “Guide to the Names in The Lord of
the Rings”).
Green,William H. The Hobbit: A Journey Into Maturity.
New York:Twayne Publishers, 1994. ———. The World of the Rings: Language, Religion and
Adventure in Tolkien. Chicago: Open Court, 2004.
Hammond,Wayne G., with the assistance of Douglas A.
Anderson. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. Melmed, Susan, Barbara. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: A
Winchester: St Paul’s Bibliographies; New Castle, DE: Oak Bibliography. Johannesburg: University of the
Knoll Books, 1993. 2nd ed. forthcoming. Witwatersrand, Department of Bibliography, Librarianship
and Typography, 1972. 41
Pearce, Joseph. Tolkien: Man and Myth. London: Tolkien, John, and Priscilla Tolkien. The Tolkien Family
HarperCollins, 1998; Fort Collins, CO: Ignatius Press, Album. London: HarperCollins, 1992; Boston: Houghton
1998. Mifflin, 1992.

Pearce, Joseph, ed. Tolkien: A Celebration: Collected Tyler, J.E.A. The Complete Tolkien Companion. London:
Writings on a Literary Legacy. London: Fount, 1999. Pan, 2002; New York:Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s
Press, 2004. Revision of The New Tolkien Companion,
Petty,Anne C. One Ring to Bind Them All: Tolkien’s 1979.
Mythology. University,Ala.: University of Alabama Press,
1979. 2nd ed.,Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, Unwin, Rayner. George Allen & Unwin: A
2002. Remembrancer. Ludlow: Privately printed for the author
by Merlin Unwin Books, 1999.
———. Tolkien in the Land of Heroes: Discovering the
Human Spirit. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring
Press, 2003. For further information about writings on J.R.R.Tolkien
and his works, see Richard C.West, Tolkien Criticism: An
Purtill, Richard L. J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Annotated Checklist, Kent, OH: Kent State University
Religion. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Press, 1970, rev. 1981; Judith A. Johnson, J.R.R. Tolkien: Six
Decades of Criticism,Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
Rogers, Ivor A., and Deborah Rogers. J.R.R. Tolkien: A 1986; Åke Bertenstam (formerly Jönsson), En
Critical Biography. New York:Twayne Publishers, 1980. Tolkienbibliografi 1911–1980: verk av och om J.R.R.
Tolkien = A Tolkien Bibliography 1911–1980:Works by
Reynolds, Patricia, and Glen H. GoodKnight, eds. and about J.R.R. Tolkien, rev. ed., Uppsala: Bertenstam,
Proceedings of the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference 1986, with supplements in the Swedish Tolkien journal
1992. Milton Keynes:The Tolkien Society;Altadena, CA: Arda; Michael D.C. Drout, Hilary Wynne, and Melissa
Mythopoeic Press, 1995. Equivalent to Mythlore 80 and Higgins,“Scholarly Studies of J.R.R.Tolkien and His Works
Mallorn 30. (in English): 1984–2000,” Envoi 9, no. 2 (Fall 2000):
135–67, with supplements in the journal Tolkien Studies;
Rosebury, Brian. Tolkien: A Critical Assessment. Nancy Martsch, ed., List of Tolkienalia, Sherman Oaks,
Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s CA: Beyond Bree, 1992; and notes in the occasional
Press, 1992. 2nd ed., Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, magazine The Tolkien Collector, ed. Christina Scull.
2003.

Scull, Christina, and Wayne G. Hammond. The J.R.R.


Tolkien Companion and Guide. London: HarperCollins,
forthcoming 2005; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. 2
vols.: Chronology and Reader’s Guide.

Shippey,T.A. The Road to Middle-Earth. London: George


Allen & Unwin, 1982; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Rev. ed., London: Grafton, 1992; Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2003.

———. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London:


HarperCollins, 2000; New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Stanton, Michael N. Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: The


Wonders and Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the
Rings. New York: Palgrave, 2001. Rev. paperback ed., New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.

Strachey, Barbara. Journeys of Frodo: An Atlas of J.R.R.


Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen &
Unwin, 1981; New York: Ballantine Books, 1981.

42
Works in the Exhibition

Mr. Bliss 1st page and Map of the upper River and Mirkwood, Ch.
Mr. Bliss (30 sheets/51 pages) VII,“Queer Lodgings”
Ink and colored pencil on paper Holograph, ink, and pencil on paper
4 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (121 x 191 mm) 9 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. (242 x 184 mm)
Marquette University MS Tolkien, Series 4 Marquette University MS.Tolkien
1/1/7:10r (unpublished)
The Hobbit
Thror’s Map (original version), ca. 1935-36 Horace Engels
Ink and pencil on paper Trolls, Gollum, and Bilbo
10 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (270 x 216 mm) Watercolor on paper
Marquette University MS Tolkien, Mss-1/1/1 22 x 27 1/2 in. (559 x 699 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien
Thror’s Map with printer’s instructions and Tolkien’s
notes, dated March 1937 The Lord of the Rings
Ink on paper, commercially printed The Magic Ring, 1938
7 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (197 x 273 mm) First draft of the Title Page
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 1/2/5:1r & v Holograph and ink on paper
8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm)
Map of Wilderland with printer’s instructions and Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/1/2:2
Tolkien’s notes, dated March 1937
Ink on paper, commercially printed Title page of The Lord of the Rings
7 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (197 x 273 mm) Ink on paper
Marquette University MS.Tolkien 10 x 8 in. (254 x 203 mm)
1/2/5:2r & v Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/1/1
Original draft of dust jacket for The Hobbit Three Rings Poem” (calligraphy)
Watercolor, ink and pencil on paper mounted on rice Black and red ink on paper
paper 8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm)
7 3/4 x 12 in. (197 x 305 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/1/3
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 1/2/4
Original sketch of The Book of Mazarbul, 1940-41
The Hobbit dust jacket, 1937 Pencil on paper
Ink on paper, commercially printed 10 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. (267 x 206 mm)
7 1/4 x 14 5/8 in. (184 x 371 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-2/1/4
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 1/2/3
Transcriptions of The Book of Mazarbul
Name changes and a description of Thror’s Map, Ch. I, Pen and ink on paper
“An Unexpected Party” 6 x 7 in. (152 x 178 mm)
Typescript with extensive holograph emendations in ink Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/14:1
7 3/4 x 10 in. (197 x 254 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 1/2/27:12r Transcriptions of The Book of Mazarbul
Ink on paper
Elves’ Song as Bilbo descends into the valley of Rivendell, 10 3/8 x 7 3/4 in. (264 x 197 mm)
Ch. III,“A Short Rest” Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/14:2
Holograph and ink on paper
9 1/2 x 7 1/8 in. (242 x 181 mm) Transcriptions of The Book of Mazarbul
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 1/1/3:1v Ink on paper
8 7/8 x 7 in. (225 x 178 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/14:3
43
Page 1 of The Book of Mazarbul (first version), 1940-41 Synoptic Time-Scheme
Ink and colored pencil on paper Ink on paper, recto and verso
9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (235 x 184 mm) 7 5/8 x 10 3/8 in. (194 x 264 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/12 Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:6

Page 1 of The Book of Mazarbul (second version), Isengard and Orthanc


1940-41 Pencil on paper
Ink and colored pencil on paper 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 191 mm)
9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (235 x 184 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/5/8
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/12
Untitled (Kirith Ungol)
Runes at Balin’s Tomb Ink, pencil and red pencil on paper
Ink on paper 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 191 mm)
9 1/2 x 7 5/6 in. (241 x 199 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/6/8
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/15
Tower of Kirith Ungol
Untitled (Doors of Durin) Pencil on paper
Ink on paper 10 3/8 x 7 5/8 in. (264 x 194 mm)
8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/8/26
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/3/10
Map of Gondor-ride to Minas Tirith
Untitled (Doors of Durin) Pencil on paper
Ink on paper 10 1/2 x 7 3/4 in. (267 x 197 mm)
9 1/2 x 7 5/6 in. (241 x 199 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/7/17
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/4/15
Topographical view of Minas Tirith
Synoptic Chronology Ink on paper
Ink on paper, recto and verso 9 1/3 x 7 3/8 in. (237 x 187 mm)
12 7/8 x 8 in. (327 x 203 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss 3/1/24
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:1
Fourth sketch of Minas Tirith
Synoptic Time-Scheme Pencil and ink on paper
Ink on paper, recto and verso 10 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. (260 x 225 mm)
8 1/8 x 12 3/4 in. (206 x 324 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss 3/1/23
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:2
Requires two-sided viewing Bird’s-eye view of Minas Tirith
Pencil on paper
Synoptic Time-Scheme 10 1/4 x 8 in. (260 x 203 mm)
Ink on paper, recto and verso Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/7/1
8 1/8 x 12 3/4 in. (206 x 324 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:3 Sketch of The Citadel
Ink on paper
Synoptic Time-Scheme 9 1/2 x 7 7/8 in. (241 x 200 mm)
Ink on paper, recto and verso Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/8/16
8 1/8 x 12 3/4 in. (206 x 324 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:4 Aragorn’s letter to Master Samwise English and
Sindarin written in Tengwar and Roman letters (calligraphy)
Synoptic Time-Scheme Ink on paper
Ink on paper, recto and verso 9 1/2 x 15 in. (241 x 381 mm)
8 1/8 x 12 3/4 in. (206 x 324 mm) Marquette University MS.Tolkien, 3/9/35
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/18:5

44
Table from which the Shire Calendar in Appendix D was
printed
Ink on paper
10 x 8 in. (254 x 203 mm)
Marquette University Mss Tolkien, 4/1/36:2

Equation of Dating (a chart)


Ink on paper
12 5/8 x 8 in. (321 x 203 mm)
Marquette University Mss Tolkien Mss 4/1/36:final page

Notes on Middle-earth lunar calendar and map of


mountains on back of WWII air warden report, 3 sheets,
1944
Ink on paper, recto and verso
8 x 5 in. (203 x 127 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss 4/2/19

Notes re: Hobbit-long measures on back of Oxford


faculty menu, 2 cards
Ink on paper, recto and verso
6 1/4 x 4 in. (159 x 102 mm)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss-4/2/19

Early Draft of Appendix E


Ink on paper
3 sheets, each 10 1/3 x 7 1/4 in.
(Sheets 1-2, recto and verso)
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss 4/2/21: 1-3

Queries & Notes


Ink on paper
2 sheets, each 8 x 5 1/3 in.
Marquette University MS.Tolkien, Mss 4/2/2:4

45
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