Discuss Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Forrest J. Ackerman on c. April-May 1958

Good question! There are multiple separate letters in the Marquette archive. Hopefully we can add additional information about them over time, but these two are (to all evidence we have so far) not the same letter.

I find Chronology says "16 June 1958 Tolkien writes to Rayner Unwin, returning the Zimmerman story-line to Rayner Unwin, together with a lengthy commentary (partly printed in Letters, pp. 271–7) and the covering letter to Forrest J. Ackerman dated 9 June. He has made copies of both for himself." So perhaps Carpenter #210: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Forrest J. Ackerman • 9 June 1958 (#584) is Tolkien's copy, and Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Forrest J. Ackerman • c. April-May 1958 (#1100) is what Ackerman received?

Deleted.

That's quite interesting, thanks!

zionius wrote:

That's quite interesting, thanks!

My pleasure. I have corrected the above slightly. Got the Marquette copy in a tangle.

Further to the earlier info, which is wrong on my part. I now have more details and will update this evening. A new dating and much of the letter is presented in Readers Guide. More to follow.

I believe that I have now sorted out my own mess How I arrived at these two letters being from the same day is beyond me right now but thanks to a friend offsite for their help and to zionius for his interest and query.

I am still confused. Isn't this Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Forrest J. Ackerman • ?11 April–c. 21 April and c. 28 April–5 May 1958 (#915) then? The quote in Chronology and the quote in Reader's Guide have identical part.
It seems Marquette and Marion E. Wade each has a copy of it.

zionius wrote:

I am still confused. Isn't this Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Forrest J. Ackerman • ?11 April–c. 21 April and c. 28 April–5 May 1958 (#915) then? The quote in Chronology and the quote in Reader's Guide have identical part.
It seems Marquette and Marion E. Wade each has a copy of it.

They are different letters. This letter was sent, and used parts of the unsent draft.