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Glyer - The Major and the Missionary

9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:05:06 PM UTC

This just arrived - a collection of letters between Warren Hamilton Lewis (C.S. Lewis's brother) and Blanche Biggs, a missionary in Papua New Guinea. I am looking forward to reading it, and have enjoyed Diana's more Tolkien-centric books, The Company They Keep and Bandersnatch.

It does have two letters that discuss Tolkien very briefly, which was another reason I wanted to read through the book. 😁


1_654d2d5cf1c47.jpg 3024X4032 px
9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:07:17 PM UTC
I wonder how long the post took between Oxford and Papua New Guinea.
9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:12:48 PM UTC

Trotter wrote:

I wonder how long the post took between Oxford and Papua New Guinea.

Seems reasonably fast - for example there's a letter on 30 March that was replied to on 6 April.
9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:16:28 PM UTC

Urulókë wrote:

Trotter wrote:

I wonder how long the post took between Oxford and Papua New Guinea.

Seems reasonably fast - for example there's a letter on 30 March that was replied to on 6 April.

Wow. Way faster than regular post these days!
9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:22:46 PM UTC

Urulókë wrote:

Trotter wrote:

I wonder how long the post took between Oxford and Papua New Guinea.

Seems reasonably fast - for example there's a letter on 30 March that was replied to on 6 April.

There is something not quite right with those dates, unless they were Telegrams perhaps? But telegrams were incredibly expensive.

When I would write to my Grandparents in South Africa (Durban), it would take 17 days on average for a letter to arrive and that was in the late 80s/ - early 90s.
9 Nov, 2023
2023-11-9 7:27:58 PM UTC
I have no reason to doubt the letter dates. Here's a direct quote from letter 39: "Dear Dr. Biggs, Many thanks for yours of the 11th which reached me on the 20th" (1970). There are other letter gaps of 4-6 days throughout (and, of course, much larger gaps for a variety of reasons).

Letter 42 (19 Dec 1970) responding to 41 (13 December) topics. "Dear Dr. Biggs, I'm afraid that even by Air Mail it is now useless to send you my best wishes for a happy Christmas".

9 Nov, 2023 (edited)
2023-11-9 7:34:55 PM UTC

Urulókë wrote:

I have no reason to doubt the letter dates. Here's a direct quote from letter 39: "Dear Dr. Biggs, Many thanks for yours of the 11th which reached me on the 20th" (1970). There are other letter gaps of 4-6 days throughout (and, of course, much larger gaps for a variety of reasons).

Letter 42 (19 Dec 1970) responding to 41 (13 December) topics. "Dear Dr. Biggs, I'm afraid that even by Air Mail it is now useless to send you my best wishes for a happy Christmas".


Quite remmarkable. A letter from Australia to PNG takes around 8 days standard, 2 days by express, in 2023. So that turn around for letters from the UK to PNG in 1970 seems almost impossible.

Warren Lewis must have been money and proof that things used to work better.
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