1976 First Edition - Father Christmas Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien for his Children
An exceptionally clean first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien’s enchanting Christmas correspondence, preserving in vivid facsimile the letters, drawings, invented scripts and North Pole mythology he created for his children over more than twenty years.
Author: J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Baillie Tolkien. Illustrated by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Title: The Father Christmas Letters.
Publisher: London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1976.
Edition: First Edition.
Language: English.
Pages: Unpaginated.
Size: 11 x 9 inches.
Binding: Very good publisher’s original green pictorial laminated boards, reproducing Tolkien’s artwork to both covers, with titles in red and white to the front board and spine. Binding square, firm and tight, with only light rubbing and minor signs of handling to the extremities, as shown. An especially attractive example of this distinctive first-edition binding. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good to near fine. Exceptionally clean, bright and fresh internally, with strong hinges and a tight text block. Only very occasional faint spotting or age-toning, chiefly to the endpapers and margins, as shown. No inscriptions or ownership markings observed. The numerous color reproductions remain vivid and beautifully preserved.
Illustrations: Profusely illustrated throughout with facsimiles of Tolkien’s original Christmas letters, decorated envelopes, invented postage stamps, calligraphy, drawings and watercolors, reproduced predominantly in color. The volume includes material from the celebrated letters written between 1920 and 1943, together with an appendix reproducing the Polar Bear’s invented alphabet.
Estimate: USD 225–250.
The book: The Father Christmas Letters gathers the extraordinary illustrated letters Tolkien wrote each Christmas for his children, beginning in 1920 and continuing for more than two decades. Ostensibly written by Father Christmas himself, they gradually developed into an elaborate private mythology populated by the accident-prone North Polar Bear, elves, goblins and other inhabitants of the North Pole. Each letter was accompanied by Tolkien’s own drawings, decorated envelopes, invented stamps and distinctive calligraphy.
Published posthumously in 1976 and edited by Baillie Tolkien, this first edition reveals an unusually personal side of Tolkien’s imagination. The combination of storytelling, illustration, invented alphabets and playful mythology provides fascinating parallels with the creative processes behind Middle-earth while remaining a deeply affectionate record of family life. In this exceptionally clean condition, the volume is particularly appealing both to Tolkien collectors and to admirers of illustrated fantasy.
The author: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) was an English writer, philologist and Oxford professor whose works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings transformed modern fantasy literature. His scholarly knowledge of medieval languages and mythology, combined with an extraordinary talent for invented languages, history and legend, allowed him to construct one of the most elaborate imaginary worlds in literature.
The Father Christmas Letters shows those same creative instincts at their most intimate and spontaneous. Long before these private letters were published, Tolkien was entertaining his children with invented peoples, scripts, histories and adventures, turning an annual family tradition into a miniature mythology of its own.