Urulókë wrote:

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (eBook)

I noted some a while ago:

9
It would be kind if you would retum>return the rejected.

17
Still that in [no] way detracts from their public effect.

19
But the real fun about ores>orcs and dragons (to my mind) was before their time.

43
Much though moderm>modern conditions have changed feminine circumstances,
In those days chaps joined up, or were scormed>scorned publicly.

52
Have at the Ores>Orcs, with winged words, hildenasddran>hildenǣddran (war-adders), biting darts

54
endeth Fæder lar his suna.>endeth Fæder lár his suna.
Longaoð>Longað þonne þy lǽs þe him con léoþa worn,

60
but as far as I can see they will not concem>concern me further this term

61
wyrce se þe móte [domes laer>]dómes ǽr déaþe.

62
to Lewis and Williams on Wed. moming>morning.

71
Yes, I think the ores>orcs as real a creation as anything in ‘realistic’
But it does make some difference who are your captains and whether they are ore>orc-like per se!

90
Is nu fela folca þætte fyrngewntu>fyrngewritu healdan wille,

91
Bill Femy>Ferny
Aragom>Aragorn

96
What's the matter with him this moming>morning
a country who is not a member of its actual Govermment>Government.

110
Houghton Muffin>Mifflin

120
Fanner>Farmer Giles of Ham

124
As far as my nemory>memory

131
late corners>comers
The Men who appear are mainly those of the Three Houses of the Fathers of them>Men
In the North is the Kingdom of Amor>Arnor
wholly absent from The Hobhit>Hobbit.

185
though un-hirelike>un-Shirelike, I fear, in reality.

205
Not that I think that this sensation is really one of the hwelpes of pe>þe liun at all:

209
ỏδντ>ỏδοντ
λóγος>λόγος [Latin o>Greek omicron]

William Cloud Hicklin recently posted the official errata list for The Chronology of The Lord of the Rings in http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpost.php?p=737179 . It is imperfect as barrowdown forum doesn't support strikethroughs and special characters, so I make a copy of it with the correct format in my previous post.

Silmarillion Index: Hithaeglir...The form Hithaeglin on the map to The Lord of the Rings is an error.
LRRC lxiii: 'Hithaeglir', the Sindarin name of the Misty Mountains, appears on the 1954 map as 'Hithaeglin'.

When I checked the 1954 map, it actually reads "Hithaiglin". The same spelling can be found in one of Tolkien's earlier maps (Art of LR fig.157. Meanwhile fig.159 has "Hithaeglir"). I can't find any maps with "Hithaeglin", though the spelling did appear in Letters no.144 and its quotation in HoMe 5.

Biography by Carpenter

Compiled by comparing 6 editions: Houghton Mifflin 1977 hardcover (1st ed), Unwin 1978 paperback, Unwin 1987 pb, HM 2000 pb, HarperCollins 2002 pb, HarperCollins kindle edition.

The later paperbacks correct many errors in the 1977 1st ed, such as:

II.3: even Ronald, loyal to Father Francis, found it hard to [obey>]follow his guardian’s wishes.

II.4: Madelener > Madlener

II.5: Deputy Professor of Comparative [Philosophy>]Philology

II.7: That go droning by a-whirring and a-humming. > That warn you with their whirring and their humming.
O! the little tinkling sounds: > O! the little tinkly sounds:

IV.3: After the Second World War he restricted this activity to examining regularly for [the Catholic University of Ireland>] various colleges in Ireland,

IV.4: Tolkien was amused by this, but he [did not accept any>] accepted few of Lewis’s suggested emendations.

IV.4: Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming a ‘sub-creator’ and inventing stories, can Man [ascribe>]aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall.

App.D: As his father’s literary executor he [has been faced>]was faced with the immense task of ordering The Silmarillion for publication.


However, there are some cases where the paperbacks make the wrong change:

II.4 (p49 in 1st ed): Kalevala or Land [of>]or Heroes [Wrong since 1978 pb]

III.3 (p106): tells of a strange slimy creature who lives beneath the floor of a cave and [has>]his pale luminous eyes. [Wrong since 1978]

IV.1 (p118): Tolkien goes into the garden to see how the broad beans are coming [along>]alone. [Wrong since 2002]

IV.3: Hwæt, IV.4: Hwæt, ærdagum. [æ became œ since 2002]

IV.4 (p152): searoþancolra [þ became p since 2002]

VI.3 (p217): elven > elvin [Wrong since 1978. How embarrassing to make a new "correction" when you criticize another printer "corrected" Tolkien's elven to elfin! ]

VI.3 (p223): [W. H. Auden>]W. A. Auden [Wrong since 1978]


Moreover, in II.3, the last word of the Nevbosh verse is given as "gyroc", but it is "gyróc" in A Secret Vice.