TCG Letter #340 / Carpenter Letter #213

Tolkien expresses reluctance to divulge personal details but acknowledges some significant facts about himself. He shares personal preferences, including a dislike of French cooking, a fondness for Wales and the Welsh language, and his connection to Ireland.

This letter has been published as follows:

• 1973: Complete letter in The Fictitious Characters of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 197-9 (Deborah Webster dissertation).
  
• 1976: Partially quoted in J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle-earth, p. 8 (Daniel Grotta-Kurska).
  
• 1977: Some quotes appear in Humphrey Carpenter's article 'A World of His Own' in the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, London, 11 September 1977.
  
• 1980: Reprinted again complete in J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 125-6 (Deborah Webster Rogers and Ivor A. Rogers). And in the first paperback ed., 1982.
  
• 1981 [2023]: Minus a quarter of the first paragraph in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 288-9 [pp. 410-2].