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JRR Tolkien was so irritated by a careless typist’s slapdash work on one of his manuscripts that he vented his frustration in a letter that has come to light.
The Lord of the Rings author said in despair: “She reduced [my manuscript] to nonsense. I have some sympathy with the typist faced with such unfamiliar matter; though evidently she wasn’t paying much attention.”
He mocked her confusion of “poche for poetic, highballs(!) for high halls, and arias for cries”.
The letter is within a collection of largely unpublished correspondence that reflects Tolkien’s loathing of sloppiness and love of language.
It is part of an archive that includes the last major Tolkien manuscript in private hands, The Road Goes Ever On, his collaboration with the composer Donald Swann of the musical comedy duo Flanders and Swann.
The collection, which offers insights into the creative process of one of the most influential literary figures of all time, is being sold by Jonkers Rare Books, antiquarian specialists in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
The bookseller’s founder, Christiaan Jonkers, said: “It is unquestionably the most important archive of Tolkien material to be offered for sale in more than a generation.”
Manuscripts and working drafts for some of his most celebrated books, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, were bought by Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1956. Its then director of libraries, William B Ready, recognised The Lord of the Rings as a masterpiece and approached Tolkien when no other institution was interested, buying the entire collection for just £1,500.
Tolkien’s fantasy masterpieces went on to sell more than 150m copies worldwide, inspiring screen adaptations such as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, one of cinema’s most successful film series.
The rest of his manuscripts were donated posthumously by his estate to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Jonkers acquired this last archive from the family of Swann, who died in 1984. Its £550,000 price reflects its rarity.
He said: “It was because this work was a collaboration that all this material lay with the Swann family and slipped the net.”
The Road Goes Ever On is a song cycle that draws on verses from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, set to music by Swann. The archive features 21 letters, as well as songs and poems and 13 pages of notes.
They reflect an extensive discussion between the two men over how the songs might be sung, because they had not been translated until then, Jonkers said: “When they appeared in Lord of the Rings, they were simply in Elvish. The idea was that the reader enjoyed language that they couldn’t in any way understand, just as a sort of phonetic exercise in itself … Swann had chosen two poems in Elvish and it quickly became apparent that these would need Tolkien’s assistance with pronunciation and metre, both to aid the composer and any performer. In their correspondence, Tolkien offered instruction for performance and also context for the language.”
Tolkien’s letters to Swann reflect their mutual admiration and friendship, which lasted from their introduction in 1965 to shortly before Tolkien’s death in 1973. Tolkien was flattered that Swann wanted to set his songs to music, performing them in 1966 with the baritone William Elvin.
Jonkers said the letters showed the evolution of a genuine friendship, “which runs contrary to the portrayal of Tolkien at this time as somewhat wary of newcomers and an often irascible and closed personality.
“Tolkien gives the impression of being uncharacteristically starstruck by Swann’s show business reputation, but also seems to have quickly decided that Swann is a man of intelligence and discernment.”
In one letter, Tolkien wrote of enjoying a Flanders and Swann performance: “I have not laughed so much … since I last saw an archbishop of Canterbury slip on a banana-skin.”
Jonkers Rare Books will offer the collection at the New York International Antiquarian book fair in April.
