2026 May 13 The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy, Part I

3 volumes, 8vo. Illustrations by Tolkien; folding map by the author's son, Christopher Tolkien, tipped-in on rear pastedown of each volume. Publisher's blue cloth, spines and front boards stamped in gilt; original pictorial dust jackets by Walter Lorraine.

FIRST AMERICAN EDITIONS, FIRST PRINTINGS. PRESENTATION COPIES, TWO VOLUMES INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO W. MEREDITH THOMPSON on the front free endpapers of The Two Towers and The Return of the King, both read: "Meredith Thompson / from / J. R. R. Tolkien." WITH A TYPED LETTER SIGNED ("yours ever affectionately / Ronald Tolkien") to "Merry Tom" dated 23 May 1972, about a trip Thompson is planning to take to visit the Tolkien family. With original mailing envelope, addressed in Tolkien's hand "Professor Meredith Thompson."

W. Meredith Thompson (1905-1993) was a Canadian professor of English whose academic interest was in philology. Like Tolkien, he had a special interest in Old and Middle English and edited Middle English works for the English Text Society. He met Tolkien while doing postgraduate work at Oxford and was a member of the informal literary discussion group, The Inklings, formed by Tolkien and fellow Oxford professor and author C. S. Lewis. He remained fast friends with the Tolkien family, even after returning to North America. His correspondence with the Tolkien family spanned decades; an archive of letters from Tolkien's wife and daughter to Thompson appear in the following lot (45222) in the present sale. The Tolkien Family Album, published in 1992 by two of Tolkien's children, John and Priscilla, includes photographs supplied by Professor Meredith Thompson. The professor is described: "Many of our parents' friends were originally J.R.R.T.'s students. One of these was to become a close family friend: Meredith Thompson (known by us as ‘Merry Tom') who had come from the University of Winnipeg in the 1930s to study at Oriel College and work with J.R.R.T. He was later to become a distinguished academic, holding a Chair in English in Los Angeles and at Vancouver... Over the years he has taken some of the best photos in the family collection."

Condition: Minor edgewear to boards and with a few bumps, primarily to Return; spine ends just pushed; spine of Two Towers lightly toned; some soiling to rear board of Return. Dust jacket of Fellowship price clipped; dust jackets of Two Towers and Return intact (both priced "$5.00"); light edgewear to jackets and light toning to some edges and folds; light scuffing and pale spotting or soiling throughout; very minor dampstaining to spine and rear panel of Fellowship; short tear at head of rear panel and one at head of spine panel of Two Towers, spine panel lightly sunned, some edges lightly sunned, two short tears at head; rear panel of Return scuffed and rubbed with other edgewear and toning along edges, a few slight chips, a few light creases. Typed letter signed lightly creased along old folds; original mailing envelope with light wear and staining from mailing, opened at top.

A wonderful association, from Middle English to Middle-earth.

References: Hammond & Anderson A5b.i, ii, and iii.

8vo. Inserted plates, errata slip inserted facing p. iv. Publisher's green cloth, spine and front board ruled and stamped in gilt; original dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION. The editors were English professors at the University of Leeds. Tolkien was responsible for the text and glossary, while Gordon was responsible for the greater part of the notes (Hammond & Anderson).

IN THE SCARCE DUST JACKET.

Condition: Spotting and staining to boards; pale spotting to text and textblock edges. Dust jacket unclipped (no price listed as issued); spine sunned; some pale spotting and soiling; mild edgewear with a few small chips at spine folds; light crease to jacket front panel.

References: Hammond & Anderson B7a.

An intimate and remarkable archive – spanning nearly three decades – between the Tolkien women and their dear friend, Professor Meredith Thompson. All the letters from Edith Tolkien are addressed "My dear ‘Merrie Tom'" (though in a few, she used the spelling "Merry"); most letters from Priscilla are addressed "My dear Meredith" and are usually signed with her nickname, "Prisca."

The letters from Edith begin in 1964, following Thompson's gift of a copy of his book on early Middle English prayers and meditations. The volume, which he dedicated to Edith, was warmly received: "I must write at once to thank you for that most pleasant surprise yesterday! To have a copy of your book – myself – which is dedicated to me, is a great honour, & I am very proud of your letter, too." She continues, offering insight into the affectionate nickname "Merrie Tom" bestowed by J. R. R. Tolkien during Thompson's time studying with him at Oxford: "We are so glad to have news of you – but you mustn't talk of being old! What about us? Do you know – we didn't realize that we were not ‘Ronald & Edith' to you – but being of an older generation – Christian names don't come easily to us; I think that's why we have nicknames (like your's [sic]) for people we are fond of..."

The ensuing letters are warm and touch variously on the weather, the Tolkien children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren, mutual friends, and the difficulties in growing old. Thompson sends hams to the Tolkien family at Christmas ("how very kind of you to again send us a wonderful piece of ham"). In December of 1968, Edith reports on the surprising move of the Tolkien family home from Oxford to Dorset: "You will perhaps be surprised to know we left Oxford early in July - & now have a very nice Bungalow here [in Dorset]... And Oxford is horrible now - & we had few friends left there – either dead – or moved away..." In the same letter, she tells of a bad accident Prof. Tolkien had in the midst of the move: "Ronald had a bad accident – fell downstairs - & severely damaged his knee: he had a complicated operation..." and about her own health problems with arthritis: "I'm very disabled..."

In June of 1969, after asking for years if Thompson was coming to England, "It was a very pleasant surprise to get your letter - & to know you were coming to England, after 11 years... I shan't give you any news, as I hope we shall see you. Will you phone?" The next month, Edith writes: "We greatly enjoyed seeing you - & you hadn't changed – after so many years..." And in November of that same year: "I can't believe it is more than three months since you were here. Time flies!" She reports the next year, in April of 1970: "R. is getting an Hon. Degree at Nottingham University on May 1st." Thompson must have also visited in the summer of 1970, as Edith writes in August 1970, "We were so glad to see you - & it was most kind of you to come, specially..." He apparently visited again in 1971, and in the last letter sent to Thompson before Edith's death, she happily reminisces about another visit from Thompson: "We so much enjoyed seeing you - & you looked well. Now we look forward to your next visit. With our love - & many good wishes, Affecly Edith" (with a note in red ink in Thompson's hand "This is the last letter I received from EMT / she died Nov 29/71").

Thompson's correspondence with Priscilla Tolkien begins after Thompson's visit to England in August of 1969. In 1971, Priscilla had the unhappy task of informing Thompson of her mother's death: "I know how distressed you will be to hear the news that after a sudden and short illness my mother died in Bournemouth on the 29th November. I hope you will forgive this short letter. My father and I know how much you meant to my mother and how very much she would have wanted you to know." In a letter from January 1972, after Edith Tolkien was buried, Priscilla writes to Thompson further about her mother's short illness, death, and her father: "My father has borne up remarkably well & has shown a brave front to the world, although of course shattered & desolate. He has stayed with me & Christopher & was with John over Christmas. He is selling the bungalow at Poole and moving back to Oxford as soon as he can manage this – hopefully... to Merton which may be free in April, so maybe things will be settling down a bit if you come here in May, which I hope you do..."

Priscilla and Thompson continued corresponding for the next twenty years, until Thompson died in 1993. The news is varied and friendly. Priscilla writes that her father was indeed installed in a flat at Merton (his old college at Oxford) and the pair arrange a visit with Prof. Tolkien in the summer of 1973. In August 1973, Thompson sends a book: "Thank you so much for writing and for so kindly sending me the book ‘The Last Unicorn.' I agree with you, I think it began very well (though perhaps rather obviously imitative of Tolkien in style!) but could not sustain the interest because [it's] a rather crude fairy tale..."

After Tolkien's death on 2 September 1973, Priscilla writes in December of that same year, thanking Thompson for his kind words about her father: "I value so much the affection in which you help my parents for so many years and all your kindness to them and I am so glad that we had those happy days together on each of your last two visits when he was back in Oxford..." About his last happy months at Merton: "...I know he did have a rich and mostly very happy eighteen months back in Oxford, with so much affection from people of all ages, and in the surroundings where he was so much at home and in the College which he loved..." She encloses newspaper clippings of announcements about Tolkien's death, and includes a photo of the author with two of his grandchildren: "I enclose a photo for you, which I hope you'll like. My nephew, Michael, has had lots of copies done for me to give to friends, like you, and I think they have a particular value, as they are the last photos ever taken of him."

Their correspondence continues sporadically but warmly until Thompson's death in 1993, with most of the remaining letters sent in the 1970s, though five were written and sent in 1987. Topics include Priscilla's garden, her teaching schedule, Thompson's retirement, the expanding Tolkien family (grandchildren, great-grandchildren, grand-nephews, etc.), Thompson's visits to England, Priscilla's visit to Canada, other travels, and her father's legacy. In April of 1975, Priscilla writes that three of her father's translations from Middle English, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, were issued in a new book featuring an introduction by her brother – and her father's literary executor – Christopher Tolkien. She also tells of the posthumous release of two records of her father reading from both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, "(before the later was published) originally taped privately by George Sayer, a friend of the old days of my father and [C. S.] Lewis & only recently come to light again. There is also a biography of my father being written by an admirable young man, Humphrey Carpenter, whom we all like & trust..." She also writes about Tolkien's posthumously published novel, The Silmarillion: "Christopher has retired from the academic life... to work full time on The Silmarillion & father's papers generally..."

Much of the content of letters from 1987 revolve around a visit Priscilla made to Canada, including time spent with Thompson and Thompson's family in Vancouver. She writes: "We've also been having some joyous excitement here with celebrating the fifty years anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. The Bodleian have put on a beautiful exhibition of my father's drawings for The Hobbit, as well as some other mss..." The last letter, sent in 1993, still touches on Prof. Tolkien and his lasting influence on Thompson's life and academic career: "I am delighted that you were glad to receive the Tribute to JRRT from S. Africa and the Bodleian Catalogue for the Exhibition, and so appreciated all your comments – yes, some people have related my father's Catholicism to The Lord of the Rings – in his lifetime he disclaimed any over-simplified connections (a Japanese Jesuit priest once unwisely called Gandalf a Christ-like figure!) but of course at a deeper level what was deepest in him must run through all his works..." Thompson died only three weeks after the letter was sent.

A beautifully intimate – and apparently unpublished – archive from Tolkien's wife and daughter to Tolkien's one-time student, and lifelong family friend.

Condition: Creases along old folds; some minor soiling to envelopes or aerogrammes; a few minor old tape repairs; minor, expected wear.

3 volumes, 8vo. In-text illustration by Tolkien in Fellowship ("The Doors of Durin"); folding map by the author's son, Christopher Tolkien, tipped-in at rear of each volume. Publisher's red cloth, spines stamped in gilt, top edges red; original pictorial dust jackets.

FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS. The Fellowship of the Ring, first edition, first impression, with signature mark "4" on p. 49, first state dust jacket; The Two Towers, first edition, first impression, with signature mark "4" on page 49, first state dust jacket; The Return of the King, first edition, first impression, p. 49 variant 3 with sagging text and signature mark "4" present, p. 281 variant 2 with the gap in "Men" closed, first state dust jacket. EACH IN AN UNRESTORED FIRST STATE DUST JACKET.

Condition: Each volume with a touch of edgewear to cloth, corners bumped and spine ends just pushed; light discoloring in the joints of Two Towers and Return; mild scratch on rear board of Two Towers. Dust jackets unclipped (each priced "21s net"); spine panels lightly toned; a few pale spots; light toning along edges and folds, with just a touch more color to Return; each with mild edgewear and a few creases along edges; front flap fold of Two Towers just starting; Return with small internal tear to front spine panel fold; front flap fold just starting; a few soft creases and minor surface impressions. Overall, an attractive set.

References: Hammond & Anderson A5a.i, ii, and iii.

8vo. Map and genealogical tables drawn and lettered by Christopher Tolkien. Publisher's printed wrappers.

SCARCE UNCORRECTED PROOFS OF THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. With laid-in slip from Houghton Mifflin for this "advance uncorrected proof" as sent by one Joe Walker from the sales department.

"The Silmarillion was Tolkien's life's-work, begun in 1914 with a vision of Eärendel the star-mariner, and continued until his death" (Hammond & Anderson). Not completed before the author's death, the elder Tolkien entrusted his son Christopher, "after the author himself, the person most intimately familiar with The Silmarillion, to put it in a form suitable for publication." As with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Christopher Tolkien provided the map in The Silmarillion; he also produced the genealogical tables for the book. "It was the first and the last of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's great works of fantasy through which he has permanently enriched the human imagination" (Donald L. Lawler, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature).

Condition: Spine just leaned; minor edgewear; else, fine.

References: for the first American edition, see: Currey, p. 477; Hammond & Anderson A15c. Magill, ed., Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, V-1733.

8vo. Folding map and genealogical tables drawn and lettered by Christopher Tolkien. Publisher's special binding of dark blue leather, spine and front board stamped in gilt, top edge stained blue.

FIRST EDITION, later issue. One of a small number bound for Methuen in a publisher's presentation binding. With a small label pasted to the title page indicating the present copy is "one of a limited edition specially bound for Methuen Publications, Canada." 1,000 copies of the Clowe impression of the first edition had been reserved for special publication in 1982; a small number of those were specially bound in dark blue leather for presentation by the publisher, as here.

Condition: Fine.

References: Hammond & Anderson, A15a (see note on p. 220), and see A15h.

8vo. Frontispiece and three inserted color plates by the author, inserted half-tone plate by the author, eight text illustrations by the author, integral advertisement leaf at end. Publisher's green cloth decoratively stamped in blue, off-white endpapers printed with Thror's map and a map of Wilderland after drawings by the author, top edge stained green; original pictorial dust jacket after drawing by the author.

FIRST EDITION, second impression. EARLY PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE FAMILY HOUSEKEEPER AT CHRISTMASTIME on an early flyleaf: "Phoebe Coles / from the author / Christmas 1937 / J. R. R. Tolkien."

The first impression of The Hobbit was sold out by 15 December 1937, and a reprint was hurried through the press. The second impression was ready by 19 December 1937, though the official publication of the second impression was not until 25 January 1938. Hammond and Anderson report that 2,300 copies of the second impression were printed, though bound through November 1940. More than 400 copies of the second impression were lost in the bombing of London on 7 November 1940. Four color plates, originally commissioned for the first American edition, were added to the second impression.

Condition: Spine a little leaned; minor soiling to cloth; a few pale spots to text and textblock edges. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "7s. 6d. net"); front panel expertly reattached on verso at spine fold; chipped with losses at head of spine panel and on rear panel near flap folds; front flap fold only just starting; jacket evenly toned and with pale spots; some edgewear with other small chips and short tears; spine panel only lightly toned; lightly rubbed at folds. Despite chips, a generally bright copy.

References: Currey, p. 476; Hammond & Anderson A3a (and see p. 15 for second impression).

Provenance: Phoebe Coles (presentation inscription).

8vo. Frontispiece and eight text illustrations by the author, inserted half-tone plate by the author, integral advertisement leaf at end. Publisher's green cloth decoratively stamped in blue, off-white endpapers printed with Thror's map and a map of Wilderland after drawings by the author, top edge stained green; original pictorial dust jacket after drawing by the author, with "Dodgeson" corrected by hand on rear flap.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION. Only 1,500 copies of the first impression of this, one of the cornerstones of fantasy literature, were printed. It was Tolkien's third published book, preceded only by two academic texts. IN A BRIGHT AND UNRESTORED DUST JACKET hand corrected on the rear flap.

In a letter to poet W. H. Auden in 1955, Tolkien recalls the beginning of this now-essential fantasy tale. He wrote, "All I remember about the start of The Hobbit is sitting correcting School Certificate papers in the everlasting weariness of that annual task forced on impecunious academics with children. On a blank leaf I scrawled: ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' I did not and do not know why..."

Tolkien's fantasy epic, published nearly seventeen years before his Lord of the Rings trilogy, invites the reader, "if you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is the record of such a journey and such a traveller..."

Condition: Spine just leaned; pale toning to endleaves. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "7s. 6d. net"); spine toned; light edgewear, a few minor chips at spine panel head and folds. A beautiful example of this fragile dust jacket.

References: Currey, p. 476; Hammond & Anderson A3a; The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Selected and Edited by Humphrey Carpenter, with the Assistance of Christopher Tolkien, letter 163.

8vo. With four inserted color plates, including frontispiece, and black and white illustrations throughout by the author. Publisher's tan cloth, variant without ribbing, spine and front board stamped in blue and red; map endpapers printed in red; original pictorial dust jacket.

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION with the bowing hobbit decoration on the title page. The second impression replaces the bowing hobbit on the title page with a publisher's device. Also includes a letter from Houghton Mifflin Company (10 July 1979) to David Aronovitz regarding issue points of the American edition of The Hobbit.

Condition: Spine ends just pushed; a spot or two to cloth; minor abrasion to rear pastedown. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "$2.50"); approximate 25 x 25 mm "v" shaped chip to rear and spine panels; 33 mm vertical tear of rear panel at top edge; other minor edgewear with a few chips and short tears; light sunning along edges; still, a brighter copy of this dust jacket than usually found.

References: Hammond & Anderson A3b.1.

8vo. Publisher's dark wine red cloth, spine stamped in gilt; original dust jacket. Bound at end: A Middle English Vocabulary by J. R. R. Tolkien. Designed for use with Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse & Prose.

Fourteenth Century Verse & Prose was first published in October 1921 without Tolkien's glossary. The Vocabulary, Tolkien's first separately issued work, was published in 1922 in an edition of 2,000. Some copies were bound separately (see the following lot), and some were bound, as here, with Kenneth Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse & Prose. IN THE SCARCE DUST JACKET.

"Kenneth Sisam, one of the most important twentieth-century scholars of Old and Middle English studies, was Tolkien's tutor in the Oxford English School and his unsuccessful rival in 1925 for the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Sisam also had a distinguished career with the Oxford University Press" (Hammond & Anderson).

Condition: Minor edgewear to cloth; light soiling to top edge; a few pale spots; bookseller's blindstamp to rear free endpaper. Dust jacket unclipped (no price listed as issued); spine lightly toned; some mild edgewear with a few chips and short tears, generally confined to spine folds.

References: Hammond & Anderson B3a.

8vo. Publisher's light brown printed wrappers.

FIRST EDITION OF TOLKIEN'S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK. First binding variant with the advertisements bound at end and dated "October 1921."

Condition: Light chipping to spine, not affecting printed text; a few spots to wrappers; some pale spotting to text, generally confined to front free endpaper and title. A near fine copy, not usually found in this condition.

References: Hammond & Anderson A1.

2 pages on one sheet (recto and verso), measuring 177 x 120 mm. Written in black ink on Merton College, Oxford stationary. With original Merton College, Oxford envelope (97 x 120 mm) addressed in holograph, with the printed seal device incorporating the arms of the college on the flap. Housed together in a black clamshell.

The roots of The Lord of the Rings and even The Hobbit lie in The Silmarillion, just as Tolkien's literary career itself grew from his academic life as a philologist and medievalist. Written at the zenith of his fame, shortly after the publication of the third volume of the trilogy, this letter is addressed not merely to a casual admirer but to a correspondent interested in languages — the very soil from which Tolkien's legendarium first sprang. Though concise, it is particularly revealing, containing Tolkien's own acknowledgment of The Silmarillion as the larger mythic framework behind The Lord of the Rings, confirming in his own hand what scholars have long recognized: that the published trilogy grew from a pre-existing imaginative universe decades in the making.

Condition: Letter creased along old folds with a pale spot or two. Mailing envelope opened at top and left edge with some associated tearing; other minor wear from mailing.

References: Apparently unpublished, and not included in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Selected and Edited by Humphrey Carpenter, with the Assistance of Christopher Tolkien.

8vo. Publisher's green cloth, spine stamped in gilt, top edge stained green; original printed dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION, hardcover copy. Tree and Leaf collects, at publisher Rayner Unwin's request, "On Fairy-stories" a lecture given by Tolkien and delivered at the University of St. Andrews in 1938. "Leaf by Niggle" was a short story originally published in the Dublin Review in 1947.

Condition: A few pale spots to text. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "10s. 6d. net"); spine evenly sunned; a few pale spots and light soiling; minor edgewear.

References: Hammond & Anderson A7b.