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TCG Letter #152 / Carpenter Letter #131

From

J.R.R. Tolkien

Milton Waldman

Date

1951 (late)

Type

Unknown

Transcript

Partial

Tolkien wrote this letter to Milton Waldman. Tolkien wanted his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, to publish both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but George Allen & Unwin were only interested in publishing The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was approached by Milton Waldman from the Collins publishing house and Milton had initially expressed an interest in publishing both books, but was now struggling to justify both the length of the books and the content to Collins.

Tolkien sent "a brief sketch of my stuff that is connected with my imaginary world". This is one of the most important of Tolkien's Letters, as it shows how in Tolkien's mind The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are connected, and why both needed to be published.

Notes

The very lengthy Letter is broken up into various parts and gives an excellent synopsis of the books

An introduction
The First Age
The Second Age
The Third Age
A summary of The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien also describes in detail the plot and structure of The Lord of the Rings, book by book, and a detailed list at the end of the letter shows all the material that Tolkien would like to be considered for publication.

Tags

Allegory

Celtic

Collins

Cosmogony

Elves

Finnish

Germanic

Greek

Hobbits

Invented languages

Languages

Middle-earth

Religion

Scandinavian

The Lord of the Rings

The One Ring

The Silmarillion

Related Letters

Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman • 13 December 1949 (#2740)

References

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1981), pp. 143-61, pp. 442-43 (Carpenter notes)

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded ed. (HarperCollins, UK), pp. 201-33, p. 621 (Carpenter notes)

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide - Chronology (2017), p. 401

Tea with Tolkien summary

Marquette archive details., See 7/1/10

J.R.R. Tolkien A Descriptive Bibliography, Di1, p. 350

Tolkien Estate where parts of this letter can be read freely.

The Battle of Maldon: together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, p. 171 (see chapter opening)

The Annotated Hobbit (1988), p. 313

Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many, pp. 1-4, pp. 20-3, p. 119, p. 248, p. 249, p. 268n5, p. 269n6, p. 275n5, p. 275n6, p. 283n16, p. 287n42

The Annotated Hobbit: Revised and Updated, pp. 361-2

The Ring of Words, pp. 115, 153

Tolkien and the Great War, p. 85 ('thought and experience...')

The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 09 - Sauron Defeated, pp. 129-132 a long segment is given, previously unpublished but since included in the revised and expanded Letters

Isabelle Pantin, L’ombre de Troie dans l’œuvre de Tolkien, see p. 151, p. 159 notes 1 & 2, (Many thanks to Tom Hillman for providing us with references from this article)

Megan N. Fontenot, "No Pagan ever loved his god": Tolkien, Thompson, and the Beautification of the Gods, p. 51, p. 58

Craig A. Boyd, "Nolo Heroizari: Tolkien and Aquinas on the Humble Journey of Master Samwise" in Christianity & Literature 2019, Vol. 68(4), p. 607, p. 616, p. 618

War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 37

Error in hardcover and Kindle editions: Captains of the Black Riders > Captain of the Black Riders p. 226. The Men who appear are mainly those of the Three Houses of the Fathers of them>Men ["them" in 1981 _Letters_ too, "Men" in _Silmarillion_] p. 208. Book 1 chapter III > Book I chapter II p. 230. better and nobler son of Men > sort of Men p. 214

Marco Cristini "The Fall of Two Cities: Troy and Gondolin." Thersites 15 (2022), pp. 15-16 note, p. 17, p. 18

Beren and Lúthien, p. 12 Preface

The Story of Kullervo, p. x, xi, xviii, 136

Cartas de J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 213-44, p. 631 (notas de Carpenter)

The Children of Húrin, p. 9

The Silmarillion, pp. xiv-xxix

The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 01 - The Book of Lost Tales, Part One, p. 22

Verlyn Flieger, "A Lost Tale and a Found Influence: Earendel and Tinuviel," Mythlore 40.2 (2022), p. 91 two citations from pp. 144-45 ['Letters', 1981].

John William Houghton, "Commedia as Fairy-story: Eucatastrophe and the Loss of Virgil," Mythlore 17, 2 (1990), p. 32 n.8 one citation from p. 377 ['Letters', 1981].

Michael Livingston, "Troy and the Rings:Tolkien and the Medieval Myth of England," Mythlore 32.1 (2013), pp. 75-93. cites from #131 on p. 75, 77n8, p. 80, p. 82n17, p. 82n18, p. 85n22 ['Letters', 1981].

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