TCG Letter #1281

Reynolds writes to thank Tolkien who has sent him another poem. Tolkien in a letter (unknown) had asked for advice on publishing a book of poems. He suggested that in normal times publishing in a magazine first would be advisable to establish his name, but he says that as ‘the odds are against your being able to have the leisure for some time to come to go bombarding editors and publishing verses’ (found in the Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford), he says Tolkien should go ahead with a book.