Book World: Before Lord of the Rings, Tolkien was Father Christmas
Elizabeth Hand, The Washington Post
Dec. 23, 2020
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By J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Baillie Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 208 pp $28
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More than 30 years before The Fellowship of the Ring was published, J.R.R. Tolkien began another fictional exercise. It didn t involve hobbits or Middle-earth. Beginning in 1920, the author took on the role of Father Christmas, writing annual yuletide missives to his children, John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla.
Tolkien continued this practice for more than 20 years, and in 1976, a compilation of his correspondence J.R.R. Tolkien s Letters from Father Christmas was made available to the public. Readers unfamiliar with the book will be captivated by a new, centenary edition, with Father Christmas handwritten letters and pictures beautifully reproduced, and his ornate - if sometimes difficult to decipher - penmanship helpfully transcribed to