J.R.R. Tolkien It is best known for its vast, fantastical landscapes. lord of the rings and hobbit adventure. In addition to being a famous writer, Professor at Oxford University He was also an Anglo-Saxon and a devoted father who doted on his children.
Tolkien started a beloved family Christmas tradition in 1920, a few years after he returned from World War I. It lasted for the next 23 years. After the birth of his first son John, Tolkien began writing letters from Father Christmas to his four children. These arctic stories are mainly about Father Christmas’s struggle against the bat-riding goblins of the north and the pranks of his assistant, the northern polar bear. An accomplished illustrator, his original drawings accompany many of his works (see his book cover designs) Lord of the Rings), Tolkien included charming photographs in many of his Christmas letters.
Many of the letters were eventually compiled into a beautiful book. Letter from Father Christmas. Thanks to the good work of memo letterwe present to you a sample of the 1925 letter.
cliff house
top of the world
near the north pole
Christmas 1925
Dear people,
This year has been terribly busy – my hands shake more than ever when I think about it – and I’m not very wealthy. In fact, terrible things have happened, some of the presents are ruined, the polar bears can’t help us, and we had to move just before Christmas, so you can only imagine how bad everything was. Sho. Then you will understand why I have a new address and why I can only write one letter between you two. It all happened like this. One very windy day last November, my hood was blown off and I was stuck on top of the North Pole. I told him to stop, but NPBear climbed onto the thin top to bring it down. And so he did. The pole broke in the middle and fell onto the roof of my house, NPBear fell through the hole I made in the dining room with my hood over my nose, and all the snow from the roof fell onto the house and melted into snow. After putting out all the fires and running into the basement where I was collecting this year’s presents, NPBear’s leg broke. He’s back to normal now, but I got so mad at him that he won’t try to help me anymore. His temper has hurt, but I’m hopeful that it will be better by next Christmas. I will send you a photo of the accident and a photo of my new home on a cliff above a national park (there is a beautiful basement on the cliff). If John can’t read my old shaky text (dated 1925), he’ll have to get his father to read it to him. When will Michael be able to read and write letters to me? Much love to you both and to Christopher, who has a similar name to me.
That’s it. Goodbye.
father christmas
via paris reviews
Related content:
110 Drawings and Paintings by JRR Tolkien: About Middle-earth and Beyond
Explore JRR Tolkien’s rarely seen art on a new website created by the Tolkien Estate
Check out JRR Tolkien’s personal book cover designs. lord of the rings trilogy
JRR Tolkien’s Soviet-era illustrations hobbit adventure (1976)
Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth found in a copy of the book lord of the rings
Ilia Blinderman is a culture and science writer based in Montreal. please follow him @iliabinderman.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
