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Let's continue discussing Tolkien's artwork with "Art for Children", Chapter 3 of the book. I just bought his "Letters to Father Christmas" so that I can see all of the illustrations, inclucing those not put into this book. Since Chapter 3 begins with those as well, let's start there before moving on to his other children's books.
The tradition of writing Father Christmas letters to his children began in 1920; his 3-year old son John received the first one. We can see how JRRT used calligraphy, imitating an "old" shaky handwriting. Besides the rather traditional depiction of Father Christmas himself, the second part of the picture shows his house, a very fanciful structure, a little like an iglu, with spires that are typical of his style.
The letters continued until 1943, when Priscilla was 14. I hope those of you who have one or the other book will post your impressions; I shall come back with more later on as well.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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