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TCG Letter #1980

From

J.R.R. Tolkien

K. M. (Katherine Mary) Kilbride

Date

c. 21 September 1937

Type

Unknown, Author Copy/Book

Transcript

Partial

Tolkien sends a copy of The Hobbit to Tolkien family friend and former student, Katherine Kilbride, with a dedication and a four-line original inscription written in Old English.

Notes

In the west there are many wonders and creatures unknown to men. [There is] a beautiful land, a dwelling of elves; [There] precious stones shine secretly in mountain caves.

translation by Daniel G. Calder Associate Professor of English, UCLA

The inscription can be seen in this 2015 Globe and Mail article along with a translation into English by Andy Orchard, the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford.

We assume that when Tolkien asked that a manuscript/proof or copies of books be sent by the publisher, that a cover letter or note would also be enclosed, but we have not seen an example of one at this time.

Tags

Middle-earth

Publishing

The Hobbit

The Hobbit author/advance/proof copies

Related Letters

Letter from K. M. (Katherine Mary) Kilbride to J.R.R. Tolkien • 22 September 1937 (#2019)

Letter from K. M. (Katherine Mary) Kilbride to J.R.R. Tolkien • 22 December 1937 (#2126)

References

TolkienBooks.net page for the 13 December 2002 Sotheby's auction catalogue, Lot 152, pp. 168-9

The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide - Chronology (2017), p. 215, p. 844

The History of the Hobbit: One Volume Edition, p. 881, p. 882

Sotheby's Sale "The Library of an English Bibliophile, Part IV", Lot 164, 2015, sold for £137,000

Elvish has left the building: Rare book auctioned had Tolkien verses in English, not Elvish, 2015 article that reproduces the inscription, and provides a translation

Eorclanstanas/Hobbitiana, Precious Stones - All who wander are not lost, Item 14 asking price USD 12,500

See tolkienlibary for examples of inscribed Hobbit, inc. Kilbride's copy.

Sotheby's (New York) Fine Books and Manuscripts including Americana 13 December 2002, 152 (pp.168-9) - A First Edition copy of The Hobbit, inscribed by Tolkien to K.M. Kilbride. Below Tolkien's signature are four lines of verse in Old English. These lines appear to be based on six lines of verse found on page 44 of The Lost Road (1987). The lot description describes the language as an Elvish dialect, but this is incorrect. The inscription and verse are reproduced in a photograph.

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