Tolkien Gleanings #269
* In The Malvern Gazette newspaper, “Letters from Tolkien and Milne found in Malvern attic”. Postcards from Tolkien on marketing-related matters, by the sound of it, though perhaps they’re still important for being from a special moment in history. Since the discoverer says… “The Tolkien postcards must have been there since 1957, as my dad’s firm handled the launch of Lord of the Rings.” Apparently, all the items together fetched a total of £120,000 at auction. It just goes to show that original items can still be found still lurking in lofts, even today.
* I think I missed this one, back at the end of October 2024. On YouTube, “Reading Tolkien for 70 Years | Interview with Verlyn Flieger”, the venerable Tolkien scholar.
* Now available, the first article for the latest rolling issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research, “The English and the Welsh: Tolkien’s Rewriting of History in the Legendarium”. The author finds “analogs of the Welsh” in Middle-earth, pointing most plausibly to the… “Rohirrim’s relations with the Dunlendings”. Also makes the interesting point in passing that in the mines of the Blue Mountains… “Tolkien put the[se] coal mines in the same direction [from the Shire] as the Welsh mines of his youth”. Birmingham in relation to North Wales, then. Yes, that also seems plausible.
* Forthcoming in French, a two-author academic book Tolkien et la memoire de l’antiquite (‘Tolkien and the memory of antiquity’). Set for 4th April 2025. No further details at present.
* New from Scriblus, an 8,000-word fan article on the “Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series (1969-74): An Introduction”. This was a large series of affordable U.S. paperbacks. The titles were largely drawn from the wealth of out-of-print fantasy titles, with the addition of the Dunsanian ‘Dreamlands’ tales of H.P. Lovecraft. Freely available online.
* And finally, the announcement from Germany of new official commercial Lord of the Rings costumes…
“Burgschneider, the leading medieval and fantasy costume maker, is excited to announce a landmark partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises [to] create a range of meticulously crafted costumes [from Gondor, Rohan and the Shire]. The collaboration will also launch fully immersive LARP events set in Middle-earth […] The first collection of officially licensed costumes is slated to release Fall 2025”.
Germany appears to have an extremely healthy Middle-earth cos-play scene, including vast role-play festivals, and so (I’m guessing) presumably the LARP events will be run first in Germany? The announcement made me think there might be an unofficial fannish ‘Middle-earth Pattern Set’ for a full range of home-made costumes, but I don’t immediately see one via search. Perhaps there should be one, for those who want to DIY?