Dominic Winters Auction
7 June - By Trotter
19th June 2025
Lot 794
Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 86-42ac-8308-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 795
Estimate GBP 500-800
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-461f-8b06-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 796
Estimate GBP 600-800
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 42-4282-9e0f-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 797
Letter from Joan Light to J.R.R. Tolkien • 8 September 1957 (#2473)
Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Joan Light • 12 September 1957 (#2472)
Estimate GBP 7-10,000
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 64-40c0-a4bf-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 798
Estimate GBP 2-300
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-4290-a6f3-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 794
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Hobbit or There and Back Again, 1st edition, 2nd impression, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937, 4 colour plates by the author, monochrome illustrations, map endpapers, advertisement at rear, light marginal dust-soiling to pp. 14-15, occasional minor spotting, bookseller ticket to front pastedown, original green pictorial cloth, price-clipped dust jacket, tear and loss at foot of front panel, closed tears at head of joints and along rear flap, tears and losses at folds, 8vo
QTY: (1)
NOTE:
Hammond A3a. The second impression was printed in the same year as the first, and the first to be illustrated in colour. A total of 2,300 copies were printed but some 400 held at the binder's London warehouse were destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940.
Estimate GBP 3,000 - 5,000
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 86-42ac-8308-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 795
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Lord of the Rings, 3 volumes, limited edition, 6th printing, London: Folio Society, 2001, illustrations by Ingahild Grathmer after Eric Fraser, map endpapers, top edge gilt, original Wassa goatskin-backed silk boards, contained in original morocco slipcase, 8vo, together with The Hobbit, 7th printing, 2002, and The Silmarillion, 4th printing, 2003, Folio Society, uniformly bound in slipcases
QTY: (5)
NOTE:
Limited edition 505/1750.
Estimate GBP 500-800
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-461f-8b06-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 796
Tolkien (J. R. R.). The Hobbit, 1st edition, 4th impression, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946, colour frontispiece, black and white illustrations, pictorial endpapers, a few spots, original pictorial green cloth, some wear to spine, binding slightly cocked, 8vo
QTY: (1)
Estimate GBP 600-800
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 42-4282-9e0f-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 797
Letter from Joan Light to J.R.R. Tolkien • 8 September 1957 (#2473)
Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Joan Light • 12 September 1957 (#2472)
Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel, 1893-1973). English Writer, Poet, Philologist, and Academic. Autograph Letter Signed twice, ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ and ‘JRRT.’, 76 Sandfield Road, Headington, Oxford, 12 September 1957, to Miss [Joan] Light, in reply to her letter of gratitude to Tolkien and saying how his book [Lord of the Rings] has been such a help to her, in full: ‘Thank you very much in return. Most encouraging. I do get a good many letters, but not many in such terms. And I am tired of being labelled an "escapist". A recent reviewer (not of my books) offered the gratuitous opinion that "Tolkienery” is bad as it “withdraws from life". But it appeared that what he called "life" was limited to observation of the contemporary “orquerie”: to coin a word in rejoinder. It was very kind of you to cheer me up, and on!’, written in dark blue ink in a very neat hand on embossed letterhead stationery and signed ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ at the foot of the page, with a ‘PTO’ in his holograph to lower right corner, the second page continuing with an even longer note, signed with initials ‘JRRT.’ at foot, ‘There was one other useful feature of Hobbit-life (besides the unchanging calendar): there was, in fact, only one title of courtesy for all grown-ups, male or female. I am afraid in the "modernization" this is misrepresented on p. 38 (Vol I). Actually Master Everard and Miss Melilot would have been more accurately rendered G. Childe Everard etc. If I have chosen the wrong rendering in your case, forgive a poor old Shire-man. You might be amused to learn that there is actually a Sam Gamgee living in London. I had a rather puzzled letter from him. But I think he is happy now. So far no S. Gollum has turned up. That might be more awkward’, some light creasing near upper and lower margins and to left-hand corners, 2 pages, 8vo, with the original postmarked envelope (Oxford, 12 September 1957), addressed in Tolkien’s hand to Miss J. Light in Hampstead, together with:
A draft signed copy of Joan Light’s letter to Professor Tolkien, 8 September 1957, neatly written in pencil, in full: ‘Since the publication of "The Lord of the Rings" I have often wanted very much indeed to write and tell you how much I have enjoyed it, but I have never been able to bring myself to do so because I know how many such letters you must get of this kind, and I did not wish to trouble you. But as time passes I feel I must write to express, however inadequately, my real sense of gratitude to you for a work which has done so much to help me personally by proving in times of fear and great spiritual darkness, an inspiration by its theme of courage and loyalty. I hope you will not mind my writing to you in this way, but your book has been such a help to me that I felt I must say thank you’, 2 pages, 8vo
QTY: (2)
NOTE:
An exceptional, previously unpublished, and double-signed letter, full of interest, kindness, warmth and humour.
The direct reference to The Fellowship of the Ring, page 38, is to the names and courtesy titles that appear in line 3: ‘Master Everard Took and Miss Melilot Brandybuck got on a table and with bells in their hands began to dance the Springle-ring: a pretty dance, but rather vigorous.’
The coincidence of the real-life Sam Gamgee and Tolkien’s fear of a real-life S. Gollum is a topic that is recorded in previously known letters. J.R.R. Tolkien had taken the name of the character Gamgee from Gamgee Tissue, a surgical dressing invented by the Birmingham surgeon Joseph Sampson Gamgee (1828-1886).
Tolkien Gateway online:
‘Letter 184 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Following the 1955 radio series of The Lord of the Rings, a Tooting resident named "Sam Gamgee" wrote to Tolkien on 13 March 1956. On 18 March, Tolkien replied. He explained his own origin of the name Gamgee, and mentioned the Gamgee family of Birmingham. In his letter, Gamgee had already shown awareness of his family's name fame in the medical profession. Tolkien then asked for more information about the name, and offered a signed copy of The Lord of the Rings.
In an editorial note, further correspondence is mentioned. Gamgee wrote back with family information, and accepted the gift kindly. In J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, pages 224-225, this episode was also mentioned. It was followed by: "[l]ater he said: 'For some time I lived in fear of receiving a letter signed S. Gollum. That would have been more difficult to deal with.'" It is unclear where this specific passage is from, but a very similar one appears in an unpublished letter to Rayner Unwin from 21 March 1956: "I hope I shan’t now get letters from S. Gollum, or Shagrat."’
Gamgee's first letter from 13 March 1956 is reproduced in Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.’
Estimate GBP 7-10,000
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... 64-40c0-a4bf-b2f4011db5b1
Lot 798
Tolkien (J. R. R.) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 8th impression, 1959; The Two Towers, 6th impression, 1959; The Return of the King, 5th impression, 1959, folding map at end of each, a little minor spotting (mainly to fore-edges and endpapers), top edge red, original red cloth gilt, dust jackets, spines toned, a few short closed tears, contained in publisher's slipcase (some adhesive tape repairs and wear), 8vo
QTY: (3)
Estimate GBP 2-300
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... d0-4290-a6f3-b2f4011db5b1
Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Death In Tolkien
4 June - By Trotter
A new HarperCollins book coming out in October.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings meets Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies in this darkly satirical illustrated parody of the Tolkien universe: ‘A is for Arwen broken by sorrows; B is for Boromir punctured by arrows. C is for Celebrimbor hung out to dry; D is for Denethor…'
‘Stories – frankly, human stories are always about one thing – death. The inevitability of death.’ J.R.R. TOLKIEN
A distinguished linguist and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as the father of the fantasy genre, drawing on his knowledge of legends and folklore to create a new mythology and write the ultimate epic novel. He populated his books with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Dragons and Dwarves, but as in all epic tales, there can be only one fate for Mortal Men…
Doomed to Die is a uniquely irreverent glance at the world of Tolkien. It started life as an innocent Inktober project, but somehow grew in the telling to become a book.
A bit more from HC about the book
Tom Racine is an illustrator, and the book is mostly illustrations. He’s known in some online circles for the ‘Wizard Blues’ cartoons https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the ... -rom/list?title_no=957997 Doomed to Die is based on a series of daily sketches he posted on Instagram for Inktober 2024 and has redrawn for the book.
UK
US
2025 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies
4 June - By Trotter
2025 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists Announced
The Mythopoeic Society has announced the finalists for the 2025 Mythopoeic Awards. For more information about the awards, visit the Awards section of this site; the finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this section. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at our Online Midsummer Seminar 2025, “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy,” which runs August 2-3, 2025, on Zoom and Discord.
Congratulations to all who were nominated.
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies
https://www.mythsoc.org/news/news-2025-06-02.htm
Auctions
28 May - By Trotter
Hobbit 1st Impression
Bonhams Lot 195
Auction Ends Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:00 AM GMT
TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
The Hobbit or There and Back Again, FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, frontispiece and 9 plates or full-page illustrations, map endpapers in red and black by the author (slight soiling), publisher's green cloth, lettered and decorated in dark blue, spine ends slightly bumped, slight soiling along bottom edges, FIRST ISSUE DUST-JACKET after a design by Tolkien, with 'Dodgeson' on rear flap corrected in ink, priced 7s. 6d on front flap, corners slightly creased and chipped, spine ends chipped, small piece at foot of spine (with part of publisher's name) detached but preserved, soiling to top edges of flaps [Hammond A3(a)], 8vo, George Allen & Unwin, 1937
Footnotes
AN UNRESTORED COPY OF THE BOOK THAT INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO MIDDLE-EARTH - THE PIONEERING MISSIONARY GEORGINA GOLLOCK'S COPY, IN THE FIRST ISSUE DUST-JACKET.
The first printing of The Hobbit was issued on 21st September 1937 with a print run of only 1500 copies, and was sold out within months; its immediate success meant that most copies were well read, no doubt contributing to the scarcity on the market of good condition copies in the original dust-jacket.
Provenance: Georgina Anne Gollock (1861-1940), Irish born missionary and writer on Africa, education and womanhood, initialled "G.A.G." on front free endpaper; given by her to the present owner's mother in the year of publication.
Georgina Gollock has begun to receive much more recognition since the publication of a biography by Ian Randall entitled Georgina Gollock: Pioneering Female Missiologist (Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, 2023). Randall describes her as "one of the most influential women in the formative period of twentieth-century World Christianity... she was the first and often only woman in the room", and the CCCW website goes on to say that in the book Gollock "finally becomes visible. Hidden in plain sight, her life of service to the expanding Protestant mission put her in the centre of the major historical developments of the era through to the 1930s. She held major leadership roles in organizations dominated by men... In a colonial context of British imperialism, colonialism, and trusteeism, Georgina Gollock offered a counter-narrative by emphasizing the leadership of men and women in what we now call the Global South" (CCCW website).
Gollock was by family repute a friend of Tolkien. It's not known if she was given the present copy (by Tolkien or someone else) or purchased it, but she certainly wrote her name in it soon after publication since it was in turn given to the current owner's mother at Christmas in 1937, in recognition of some help she received. Gollock would have been 75 years old in 1937, and she died three years later.
Estimate GBP 25,000-35,000
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/30730/ ... rge-allen-and-unwin-1937/
Tolkien Letters
International Autograph Auctions Europe S.L. Lot 1179
TOLKIEN J. R. R.: (1892-1973) English writer, author of the classic fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. T.L.S., J. R. R. Tolkien, one page, 4to, Headington, Oxford, 24th November 1967, to Miss. Karen C. Walker. Tolkien commences his letter by asking 'Am I right in thinking that your mother was Cecile Barbier?' and continues 'I have recently met her sister Marie (who married her cousin and remains Barbier), and one of her daughters'. The author further writes 'I remember your grandfather, Paul Barbier, very well. He was extremely kind to me as a very young man on my first university job. He was a great scholar and a great character, and I remember a good deal about him' and informs his correspondent 'I have been ill for some time and am now very heavily engaged with work of my own, and putting memories of this kind in order actually takes up a good deal of time, and I haven't any to spare at present' although concludes 'But I will jot down things that I remember from time to time and perhaps you would like to jog my memory early next year to see what I have got for you' . Accompanied by the original envelope. Together with a T.L.S. by Tolkien's assistant, Phyllis M. Jenkinson, with her initials ('P.M.J.'), on behalf of the writer, one page, 8vo, Headington, Oxford, 29th February 1968, also to Miss. Karen Walker. Tolkien writes, in part, 'I am afraid I haven't had any time to jot any memories of your grandfather down, as I have had a very disturbing and troubling time.....I cannot see any relief from pressure for some time ahead and I am afraid it is no good my asking you to jog my memory again .but I will keep you in mind.....in case I find some moment'. Accompanied by the original envelope. VG to about EX, 2
Paul Barbier (1873-1947) Professor of French at Leeds University 1903-38 who has been described as 'an exceptional scholar and inspiring teacher as well as an efficient adminstrator'. Barbier was a keen linguist and took a particular interest in words and names which led him to focus on lexicographical studies.
Letter from Phyllis M. Jenkinson (secretary) to Miss Walker • 29 February 1968 (#734)
Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Miss [Karen C.] Walker • 24 November 1967 (#758)
Auction ends Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:00 AM GMT
Estimate EUR 2,500-3,500
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... a4aa1f88b694025e2c677719a
"Musical Chapters from The Lord of the Rings" by Paul Corfield Godfrey PRE-ORDER
5 May - By onthetrail
All of us from Zarathustra: The Paul Corfield Godfrey Trust and Volante Opera Productions are very proud to announce that Paul Corfield Godfrey's Musical Chapters from The Lord of the Rings after the Mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien is ready to pre-order.
As Tolkien himself famously said, "Hardly a word in its 600,000 or more has been unconsidered. And the placing, size, style, and contribution to the whole of all the features, incidents, and chapters has been laboriously pondered... the labour has been colossal"Carpenter's Letter #131 (J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951 (late))[1] and we can say very much the same. Every word has to be considered when writing an opera, and Paul has considered all of them. We as a team have poured thousands of hours into making the best product we can and we are very proud of it.
We send our thanks to theonering.net who have looked after the official announcement for us.
Pre-orders are available at the VOLANTE STORE.
The 15CD digibook will ship in early September and is officially released on 5th September. Those attending OxonMoot 2025 will be able to meet Paul there and purchase copies. The cycle will also be available for digital purchase on release day.
The press release reads:
MUSICAL CHAPTERS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE CYCLE COMPLETED
The agreement by the estate of the late J. R. R. Tolkien last year to sanction the recording of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings” was hailed by listeners throughout the world as a milestone in the field of Tolkien adaptations.
For many years the Tolkien Estate has refused to allow any musical treatment of the works of the author which employed his own words. Now they have agreed to make a concession in respect of the music of Paul Corfield Godfrey, whose acclaimed cycle of “epic scenes from The Silmarillion” was finally completed in 2023 with the issue of a ten-CD series of recordings from Volante Opera and Prima Facie Records.
Ever since the 1960s the composer had been working on sketches, fragments and episodes of what was originally envisaged as a cycle of musical works based upon The Lord of the Rings. Following on from the success of the recordings of The Silmarillion he was persuaded to go back to these beginnings and fully explore, expand and complete the work which has now evolved as “musical chapters from The Lord of the Rings”. This fully operatic setting has now become a companion work on the same scale as The Silmarillion. The adaptation extends to thirty “chapters” designed for performance over six evenings – more than fifteen hours of music.
This recording of the complete work by Volante Opera has now finally been completed and Prima Facie will release a demo set of the complete cycle, in the same manner as their Silmarillion recordings, in a single volume on 5 September 2025. The professional singers, some thirty-five in number, come mainly from Welsh National Opera. Returning artists from The Silmarillion include: Simon Crosby Buttle as Frodo, Julian Boyce as Sam, Philip Lloyd-Evans as Gandalf, Stephen Wells as Aragorn, Michael Clifton-Thompson as Gollum, Helen Jarmany as Éowyn, Huw Llywelyn as Bilbo and Éomer, Emma Mary Llewellyn as Arwen and Goldberry, Laurence Cole as Boromir and Denethor, Martin Lloyd as Treebeard and the Herb Master, Helen Greenaway as Lobelia and Ioreth, Rosie Hay as Gwaihir, Sophie Yelland as the Barrow-Wight and Louise Ratcliffe as Lindir, with George Newton-Fitzgerald and Jasey Hall taking on a plethora of parts. Angharad Morgan is also reprising her role as Galadriel from The War of Wrath. Other new cast members include Rhodri Prys Jones as Legolas, Gareth Long as Gimli, David Fortey as Pippin, Dyfed Wyn Evans as Merry, James Schouten as Faramir and Elrond, Gavin Davies as Thëoden, Gareth Lloyd as Saruman, Peter Wilman, Owen Webb, Alastair Moore, Francesca Saracino and Steffan Lloyd-Evans in various other solo roles and Howard Kirk as Tom Bombadil and Quickbeam.
Although the text is inevitably abridged, it adheres without any but the most minor alterations to the author’s original words, and the original plot development remains unchanged – including such elements as Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight, the love story of Éowyn and Faramir and the ‘scouring of the Shire’. And some other passages, such as the coronation and wedding of Aragorn, are given expanded musical treatment. The issue includes not only the complete musical score, but also a substantial booklet containing full details of the recording (including the text as set) and a supplementary appendix disc giving more extended versions of some of the more substantial narrative poems. As with the earlier issues of The Silmarillion the cover art has been furnished by Ted Nasmith.
For more information about the recordings by Volante Opera Productions please visit:
www.volanteopera.wales
The Music of Paul Corfield Godfrey
www.paulcorfieldgodfrey.co.uk
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