Tolkien Gleanings #258

* Thoughts on Tolkien has a long post with “Musings on Christmas Poetry”.

* Tolkien Gateway now has a handy online title-list of Collected Poems : Previously unpublished contents.

* I’m pleased to see that the book Bridal-Quest Epics in Medieval Germany (2012) is now newly available as an affordable £10 paperback, and also that Amazon UK can ship it to a delivery locker. Relevant to Tolkien because it has a “detailed history of the textual scholarship” done in Germany on the Orendel epic (the German cognate of earendel). I’ve ordered a copy and will report on it in due course. After promising “1-2 days”, Amazon now seems to think it may take a few months to arrive.

* There’s now a list of Westmoot 2025 Keynote Speakers and a Westmoot Call for Artwork. No mention of an AI ban for the latter.

* At the newly Tolkien-ified Oxford Centre for Fantasy, a week of “Walking and Writing in the Shires”. 14th – 19th July 2025. Booking now.

* Cannock Chase Council (Labour) is proposing the closure of the Museum of Cannock Chase to save money. Despite the bankable Tolkien connection (90,000 people saw the Museum’s Tolkien exhibition a few years ago), it appears that only “locals” are invited to comment on the proposal.

* And finally, new on Archive.org is a very hi-res scan of the recent Tolkien £2 coin. The idea springs to mind of making a ‘Tolkien Tree’ for Christmas. Tweak the image for brightness, print it, cut out the centre, Pritt-stick onto some generic ‘giant gold chocolate-coins’. Hang on your custom Christmas ‘Tolkien Tree’. Merry Christmas.