The first edition of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien came out in 1981 and included 354 letters from Tolkien, edited by his biographer, Humphrey Carpenter, and his son, Christopher. At the time, the two wanted to include more correspondence, but weren’t able to because of publishing restrictions. Over forty years later, times have changed, and HarperCollins will be releasing an expanded edition of Letters later this year.
“Since it was first published in 1981, Letters has become the closest thing we can ever have to J.R.R. Tolkien’s autobiography,” Jennifer Hart, Senior Vice President and Associate Publisher said in a statement, later on adding that Tolkien’s correspondence was “intimate, heartfelt, wise, funny, fascinating.”
Hart also stated, however, that the original compilation “was not the book envisaged by Humphrey and Christopher. At the publisher’s request, they were required to reduce the original selection to what was then deemed a publishable extent. By going back to the editors’ original typescripts and notes, it has finally been possible for us to reinstate the 150 letters they excised purely for length—an additional 50,000 words—and publish the book as originally intended.”
We don’t know where you can pre-order the book yet. But we do know, however, that the new edition of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien will be published globally in November 2023 and will be put out in the U.S. by William Morrow.
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