Farmer Giles of Ham - Signed "Pearl from Chris"

I have 4 of C Tolkien's signatures, all done at the 1987 Mythcon: 1 signed poster and 3 books. Oh happy day. You could take two items to be autographed. So I took two and Marcy took two and Christopher graciously signed all 4 to me.
The poster and 2 books are signed "Christopher Tolkien". I made the remark as he picked up the last item, A&U Silmarillion, that he would tire of his signature. He smiled and in a different script, with a flash & flourish, signed: "CRTolkien" with an embellishment to the T. The fluidity and speed were astonishing.

That is a really cool story Arbor! I also have a CRTolkien variant.

This has been discussed before.

Christopher Tolkien is Christopher's "write my name" (his words); CRTolkien is his "usual signature" (his words). His signature is all over various legal papers (in relation to the Estate, Trust, Company, etc) that you can find online. It's his real signature; independent of anything to do with books, literature, etc.

Khamûl wrote:
This has been discussed before.

Christopher Tolkien is Christopher's "write my name" (his words); CRTolkien is his "usual signature" (his words). His signature is all over various legal papers (in relation to the Estate, Trust, Company, etc) that you can find online. It's his real signature; independent of anything to do with books, literature, etc.

As described here (worth a read for anyone who wants a laugh): https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... t_id=18508#forumpost18508

Great read, I remember that discussion. Thanks for reposting that thread!

Lokki wrote:
Great read, I remember that discussion. Thanks for reposting that thread!

No worries. I had forgotten just how ridiculous it was. I'm hoping Mark will come back, as I have some seriously hard to answer questions about the dust jacket of that 1942 he was selling recently.

Just as a bit of a wrap-up on this, I had politely replied to the seller's email at the time and pointed him here. He did not respond.

@tolkienanio -- when you bought your book, did the seller claim to have any knowledge of where it came from (i.e was "Pearl's widower" mentioned then)?

Hi Stu, as I wrote, I know the St Philips Books in Oxford very well, it is a Catholic bookstore opposite Christ Church College which contains many second-hand books. Before Tom Bombadil, I had purchased a book signed by Father Francis Xavier Morgan. I had bought Tom Bombadil on Abebooks, and to my request for information, they replied that the previous owner who had given him the books confirmed that it was Christopher Tolkien, but in the Abe description he had correctly indicated "presumably by Christopher Tolkien". And again that "They were both inscribed to the same person (I bought the books at the same time from a relative of Pearl), so there is little doubt they are both signed by the same person."

I consider very serious who manages the library and I bought the volume. When I was in Oxford last June, as always, I visited all the bookshops in the city, including of course St. Philips. I spoke with Christopher, a person from the bookstore, who confirmed to me the story of the books signed for Pearl by Chris. That day I also bought Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass by Carroll, signed by Camillo Talbot d'Alessandro, an Italian professor who taught at Oxford which was friend of Tolkien and Lewis. Tolkien sent to D'Alessandro some Italian editions of the Lord of the Rings.

Tolkieniano wrote:
Hi Stu, as I wrote, I know the St Philips Books in Oxford very well, it is a Catholic bookstore opposite Christ Church College which contains many second-hand books. Before Tom Bombadil, I had purchased a book signed by Father Francis Xavier Morgan. I had bought Tom Bombadil on Abebooks, and to my request for information, they replied that the previous owner who had given him the books confirmed that it was Christopher Tolkien, but in the Abe description he had correctly indicated "presumably by Christopher Tolkien". And again that "They were both inscribed to the same person (I bought the books at the same time from a relative of Pearl), so there is little doubt they are both signed by the same person."

I consider very serious who manages the library and I bought the volume. When I was in Oxford last June, as always, I visited all the bookshops in the city, including of course St. Philips. I spoke with Christopher, a person from the bookstore, who confirmed to me the story of the books signed for Pearl by Chris. That day I also bought Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass by Carroll, signed by Camillo Talbot d'Alessandro, an Italian professor who taught at Oxford which was friend of Tolkien and Lewis. Tolkien sent to D'Alessandro some Italian editions of the Lord of the Rings.

Thanks for the additional detail beyond what you supplied before (it sounded odd that you said previously said you had been unable to find out who Pearl was, given the seller stated it was the widower of the person that sold it to him. That's why I was after clarification that the stories for the two books were more of less the same. Sounds like they are). Shall forever remain a mystery, I suspect.

Yes, I didn't remember that detail until I found his email. The purchase of the Tom Bombadil, was facilitated by the price, the writing, the seriousness of the library and by the first judgment of some scholars to whom I had asked an opinion. Honestly, I like to believe that it's from Chris (also confirmed by Catherine McIlwaine), however it is certainly not the rarest and important book in my collection, but a nice "mystery" to have.