New Tolkien Letter discovered

[Bêthberry]

Indeed, davem, thanks for that link.

Oh, how quotations tantalise, especially when divorced from context! What disheartens me, though, is this:

Ms Merryis said: "We have a magical letter about Tolkien's feelings on the plot, that a collector would die for. We're talking at least £1,000 possibly £2,000."

Not knowing the Antiques Roadshow, I have little idea what kind of subject and interest that show generates, but the buying and selling of authors' letters and signatures is a sorry story in the history of Belles Lettres. I would have thought that, if the letter has been legitimately validated, it would at least be announced if not advertised through more traditional avenues of the book trade.

If anyone is interested in a story of the shady business of collecting authors' letters, check out A. S. Byatt's romance Possession, which might also interest Tolkien readers for its depiction of a Victorian poet interested in fairies (a hot topic for the Victorians) and a "Christianising of Norse myth." With a hero called Roland, it can't miss. Byatt is a child of the sixties' fervour for Tolkien.

I know, I know. getting sidetracked. But all in all, this reminds us that the Letters we have from Carpenter are incomplete and were subject to principles of selection determined by family members. What I want to read is that diary.