Tolkien letters detail surprising friendship between author and fan
This week, letters and signed copies of the author’s work go under the hammer. They reveal a friendly correspondence between JRR Tolkien and his fan Eileen Elgar.
So many of us dream of writing to our idol, but few pluck up the courage to actually do so. If we can muster it, even fewer receive a response. I remember, aged 10, the excitement I felt when my favourite author, Helen Dunmore, wrote back to me. Imagine, then, how Eileen Elgar must have felt when she received a reply from J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973).
Elgar started corresponding with the author in her fifties on the advice of her daughter, who suggested she write to him with some of her questions about his books. Relationship established, Elgar went on to make suggestions on how Tolkien's works could be improved and this eventually led to the writer visiting Elgar at home, and the pair striking up a surprising friendship.
Now, six books, signed by the author, and five correspondents written by him to Elgar, are going up for auction with Sotheby’s.
Eileen Elgar in August 1933.
This edition of 'The Hobbit', 1961, is a signed first paperback issue. It is pictured with 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, 1963, deluxe edition, also signed.
Tolkien described Elgar, who lived in Bournemouth, as an ‘admirer’ of his in a letter to his grandson in 1963. He added that she was ‘highly intelligent & well read’ and ‘stone deaf’, which necessitated communication ‘by writing pad’.
An autographed note, tucked into a copy of Fellowship of the Ring, is clearly Tolkien's attempt to explain his thought process behind the mythic creations of the race of Dwarves, and includes ‘significant detail regarding Middle Earth Creation lore’. The book and note is part of a single lot of three volumes of The Lord of the Rings from 1961.
In a different title, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, a loosely inserted letter references Tolkien's sadness at hearing of the death of C.S. Lewis.
William Passey, of Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Department says the most surprising thing about these correspondences is ‘how intimate they are, and how much time [Tolkien] was willing to devote to answering Eileen's questions in depth.’
'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil', 1963, first edition, signed.
The note inside mentioning the death of C.S. Lewis.
He adds: ‘I suppose the lot that really stands out for me is the set of Lord of the Rings with the note about the creation of the race of the dwarves in it. What’s remarkable about that is the nerdy detail that Tolkien gets into, and obviously the fact that it is not a letter, but something that was written during the course of conversation.’
Elgar, who lived near the Hotel Miramar, where Tolkien and his wife would holiday each year, died in 1980. The letters date from 1961-4 and the works are spread across five lots (lots 83-87). In total, they are estimated to sell for around £39,000-55,000.
Tolkien, born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was best-known for his fantasy novels. He published The Hobbit in 1937 and the first part of The Lord of the Rings in 1954. He died in 1973 at the age of 81 in Bournemouth.
Tolkien has done exceptionally well at auction in recent years, according to Sotheby's.
One of Elgar's novels from the 'The Lord of the Rings', trilogy with a note on the creation of the race of dwarves.
The demand for his work is still extremely high. In 2023, a second-edition set of Lord of the Rings books that were inscribed by Tolkien in Elvish sold for £95,250 with Sotheby's. The following year, a set of 21 Tolkien letters were sold by the auctioneers for £228,000. The Tolkien Society, founded in 1969, has around 4,000 members in more than 60 different countries and this year, The Lord of the Rings topped The Guardian readers’ top 100 novels of all time list.
Elgar with Alfred, her husband.
Passey of Sotheby’s says: ‘It is worth noting that Tolkien has done exceptionally well at auction in recent years.’ He credits ‘millennial collectors, who are from outside the traditional book collecting world, and have maybe grown up watching the films,’ with this recent boom.
Someone communicating with Elgar through writing.
Tolkien expert Pieter Collier told The Observer, of Elgar: ‘I believe she was one of the very few people he could think of as a peer.’ He added that Elgar should ‘get much more credit and respect for her communications with [Tolkien]. He actually listened to what she said.’
‘One cannot help wondering what kind of scholar she might have become had deafness not isolated her from academic life.’
Elgar’s granddaughter, Helen Dutfield, told the BBC that Elgar had ‘a very rich imagination’ and was ‘fascinated by the ancient civilisations’. Of Tolkien, she added: ‘His wife was quite jealous and she was curious about who this woman was that he was going to talk to.
‘We laugh about that because my grandmother was old before her time, she was terribly intense — not the sort of person you could imagine he would have fancied.’
For more information about the sale, visit Sotheby’s website
