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Originally Posted by Lal
The evil Mortimer Cropper? He who snaps up just about anything related to Ash and whisks it away to New Mexico? I often think of that character when I think of the massive trade in Tolkien material worldwide and how much of it has been taken away to the wealthy Marquette.... Then it is fed to us poor saps in little, expensive drips via Ł100 scholarly journals.
Maybe there is a lesson that Tolkien fans ought to be rummaging away in the backs of obscure books hidden in the stacks of the Bodleian library for secret letters from Tolkien.
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What a name that is--Mortimer Cropper! I wonder if there is someone of a similar ilk stalking Christopher Tolkien or the other children? I would think that the place to scrounge around might be the second hand book stores, maybe even the local libraries. One never can tell when an absent-minded friend or colleague might use a letter for a bookmark and then forget about.
On the other hand, I do recall sending Thenamir and some of the other RPGers an email long ago about a shoebox filled with notes found in the Bournemouth basement.... But that announced itself by the end of the email. And this is online!
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Originally Posted by Child
You could be right, but, if this letter is a fake, then they've really pulled the wool over the eyes of two of the most "reputable" of the antiquarian book dealers/jobbers. Simon Finch is a fancy place with wonderful things but which many people feel is overpriced. (They have a first edition of the Hobbit currently listed at 24,000 pounds.) Hence the crazy price tag on this letter. Abe Books is also very well known.
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Well, sites can be hacked, can they not? Or am I assuming too much computer savvy on the part of some practical-joking technofetishists?
I really like this statement:
"Alas! there are so many people who cannot 'enjoy' anything". Why, that could be taken from a post here on the Barrow Downs, it sounds so much like a fan's statement of Tolkien's dislike of splintering a thing.