Discovered Tolkien letters reveal new sides of his work
The correspondence was part of an exchange between Tolkien and the British Council about funding for his research collaboration with his former Oxford student, Simonne d’Ardenne
A volunteer has discovered two handwritten letters written by JRR Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, almost 50 years after his death.
On March 25, a volunteer working in England's National Archives in Kew found the previously unrecorded documents.
They comprise letters written in 1945. Tolkien had recently been appointed Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College, University of Oxford. The correspondence was part of an exchange between Tolkien and the British Council about funding for his research collaboration with his former Oxford student, Simonne d'Ardenne. Both Tolkien and d'Ardenne shared a deep fascination for historic languages.
"These letters provide an intriguing new glimpse into Tolkien's life and work, allowing us to hear from one of the world's best-loved authors in his own voice and through his own handwriting", said Sarah Castagnetti, Visual Collections Team Manager at The National Archives, as posted on their website.
A photograph of the letters posted by The National Archives reveals that Early English was poorly represented in countries speaking Latin language, according to Tolkien. The Second World War had interrupted Tolkien's communications and ongoing work with d'Ardenne, and the the sources and materials of their research project resided in England.
d'Ardenne's work "was recognised as one of the most important works in Middle English for a generation", Tolkien wrote to The British Council. Their research together would expand on this earlier work.
The British Council ultimately did grant the funding and Professor d'Ardenne joined Tolkien at Oxford in January of 1946.
"These newly-discovered documents will sit alongside previously catalogued correspondence from Tolkien held within our collection", The National Archives state.
The discovery was made during preparations for Tolkien Reading Day on March 25—the date on which, in The Lord of the Rings saga, Frodo's quest ended with the destruction of the ring.