"Another Oxford fairy-story" (pre 1938)?

[HareBrain]

I'm not sure this is much more likely as it has some of the same problems, but Tolkien's poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil did exist in print at that time, in a 1934 edition of the Oxford Magazine, and I think better fits the description "fairy story".

Incidentally, I have the 1976 printing of The Father Christmas Letters, and the 1937 entry is different. In it, FC explains he's strained his hand and most of the letter is a "picture diary" by Ilbereth. Neither mentions Hobbits or a different fairy story. I understand that the later version "Letters From Father Christmas" is different from the earlier one in some respects, but how can there be two different letters for the same year?

 

[paranoid marvin]

I'm not sure this is much more likely as it has some of the same problems, but Tolkien's poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil did exist in print at that time, in a 1934 edition of the Oxford Magazine, and I think better fits the description "fairy story".

Incidentally, I have the 1976 printing of The Father Christmas Letters, and the 1937 entry is different. In it, FC explains he's strained his hand and most of the letter is a "picture diary" by Ilbereth. Neither mentions Hobbits or a different fairy story. I understand that the later version "Letters From Father Christmas" is different from the earlier one in some respects, but how can there be two different letters for the same year?

Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[Extollager]

I wondered if Tolkien thought "Farmer Giles" might be in hardcover from A&U in time.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Also worth bearing in mind is that FG is set in and around Oxford. So the reference to an 'Oxford fairy-story' could be literal.

All things considered, I would be surprised if it wasn't a shortened version of what would later become the published novel.

 

[Matteo]

I'm not sure this is much more likely as it has some of the same problems, but Tolkien's poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil did exist in print at that time, in a 1934 edition of the Oxford Magazine, and I think better fits the description "fairy story".

Incidentally, I have the 1976 printing of The Father Christmas Letters, and the 1937 entry is different. In it, FC explains he's strained his hand and most of the letter is a "picture diary" by Ilbereth. Neither mentions Hobbits or a different fairy story. I understand that the later version "Letters From Father Christmas" is different from the earlier one in some respects, but how can there be two different letters for the same year?

In the 1976 edition, the first publication, some letters were edited/cut (though I don't know the details). Later versions dispensed with these edits and included more letters and envelopes - the centenary edition being the most complete (some photos of the letter below).

As it happens, some years there was more than one letter (one coming when FC received the children's letters).

It's likely that Christopher, being 13, knew FC was his dad but I doubt 8 year old Priscilla did (especially back then?) particularly if her brothers kept up the pretense (as I did for my younger sister). So getting their father's manuscript of FG would be odd.

Considering how much JRRT has been analysed, I suspect the answer is out there...

 

[HareBrain]

In the 1976 edition, the first publication, some letters were edited/cut (though I don't know the details).

Thanks for posting the pics. I can see now that what is in the 1976 edition for 1937 is an edited version (heavily edited in terms of FC's contribution; less so for Ilbereth's).

I'll try to get a Centenary edition before next Christmas!

 

[paranoid marvin]

The clincher for me is that it's an Oxford fairy-tale. And Farmer Giles is a fairy tale set in and around Oxford. And had been written just prior to him sending the letter, and likely wouldn't yet have been read by his children. And we know that Tolkien liked to get feedback on his stories from his children.

The obvious answer surely has to be Farmer Giles?

 

[Matteo]

Hmm...if it was Farmer Giles then it would be in manuscript form - possible for a "magical" Father Christmas I suppose. But it would also depend on the children not knowing who wrote it - after all, it would be odd for Father Christmas to send a child a book written by their father. So I'm doubtful.

Perhaps it is more likely if Priscilla knew her father was Father Christmas but I don't get that impression from the letters.

A year later at the Lang Lecture On Fairy Stories, Tolkien says they are not [only] about fairies but the realm of Faerie - and all the creatures that can exist there. Which explains why he considers The Hobbit to be so. He discounts Gulliver's Travels and Alice and the Beatrix Potter books. He also disagrees with Andrew Lang's definition of fairy stories for his twelve book collection, and how children perceive them - which must have been a bit awkward... He also he does not like versions of fairy stories that have been adapted for children. He does give Sir Gwaine and the Green Knight as an example and his translation had been published in 1925, but again would he send his own book, and would he consider that an "Oxford fairy story"? And the text is a bit tough for an eight-year old I would say.

I've looked around the interweb some more and not found the answer - though I did find the Lang lecture - so I'm none the wiser.

And for @HareBrain there's a good comparison of the different FC Letters publications here: Letters From Father Christmas (looks like your 1976 edition is missing quite a bit) and an article here: The ‘Father Christmas’ Letters.

Finally, this Sunday's Antique Roadshow has some signed Tolkien books.

 

[Dave]

I think that 'Oxford-written' is a euphemism for 'self-written'. It's also (in my mind) far too coincidental that Farmer Giles had just been written.

I also think Farmer Giles of Ham is the most obvious answer, or The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
We are over-thinking this! Shall I mark the query as (Probably Found)?

 

[Matteo]

Well...I'm not so convinced, but (a) I don't have an alternative, and (b) you have that power

If I had a mind to*, I would dig around a lot more - considering how much (everything) Tolkien has written has been analysed I can't be the only one to have wondered the same and come up with an answer.

But, even that would be just a theory. The only way to know for sure is if someone had asked Priscilla herself (a bit unlikely) and that would only have been possible after the Father Christmas Letters were published. That would be 1976 except @HareBrain notes that version does not include that entry/mention so it would be a later edition. And that is either 1994 (perhaps - it was "partial" according to the table above) or 1999 (complete). In other words, around sixty years after the gift and so highly unlikely she would remember.

(*I don't...)

 

[HareBrain]

I also think Farmer Giles of Ham is the most obvious answer, or The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
We are over-thinking this! Shall I mark the query as (Probably Found)?

I still think the truth is most likely something not written by JRRT at all, and which isn't even on our radar. So "probably" sounds too strong for me. But I also think we're never going to get a definite answer.

 

[paranoid marvin]

He writes that he was going to send them a story about Hobbits. Presumably that was going to be a story written by him. So it isn't unlikely the story he was sending instead had also been written by him.

Originally I was thinking that an Oxford story was either his way of describing his own work, or it had been written by someone who had studied at Oxford.

But now I think that I was overthinking it. What if an 'Oxford fairy story' was simply a fairy-story set in Oxford?

Farmer Giles is a fairy-story set in Oxford. It had just been written by Tolkien. Perhaps the reason he wrote it was as a Christmas gift for his children?

It may not be Farmer Giles; as HB says, we may never know for sure. But it's the story that ticks more boxes than any other.

 

[Matteo]

Actually, he says "Hobbits" not "about  Hobbits".

I read the letter as I [Father Christmas] was going to send [each of you] The Hobbit [as I have done to other children] but I thought you would have lots [because your father is the author].

That's why I don't think he ("Father Christmas") would send another story written by JRRT.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Actually, he says "Hobbits" not "about  Hobbits".

I read the letter as I [Father Christmas] was going to send [each of you] The Hobbit [as I have done to other children] but I thought you would have lots [because your father is the author].

That's why I don't think he ("Father Christmas") would send another story written by JRRT.

It was likely a joke, or it could be that he was considering writing a seperate short story about Hobbits. Certainly the would all have copies of the first edition of The Hobbit. He may have tjought they would be sick of Hobbits, and want a story about something else.

As I mentioned earlier, Tolkien continued to send letters from Father Christmas until his children were young adults, so it was more of a tradition than anything else.

Who knows, he may have sent them 'Bilbo's Last Song'.

 

[Dave]

These are common problems with historical research. We can argue forever over the meaning of what someone wrote, and we will never know with certainty, unless by chance some different text turns up to collaborate the first; and we all wish we could put questions to people who are no longer with us.

 

[paranoid marvin]

This was bugging me, so I went out and bought the De Luxe Hardback, which even has the front of the envelopes with JRR T's beautiful handwriting (although how anyone could decipher his handwriting I don't know).

I've not read it fully, but (1937 at least) doesn't seem to provide further clues.

If it's of interest, in an earlier letter he sent a copy of a novel called 'Deerslayer'.

 

[Matteo]

And in 1941 he says he is unable to send "Moldy Warp" by Alison Uttley. But I don't think she fits the bill.

 

[Dave]

If it's of interest, in an earlier letter he sent a copy of a novel called 'Deerslayer'.

The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path was James Fenimore Cooper's fifth and last novel published in 1841. Too early, and also set in New York state, which is a long way from Oxford.

Moldy Warp by Alison Uttley.

Moldy Warp the Mole (The Tales of Little Grey Rabbit) by Alison Uttley, pictures by Margaret Tempest, first edition was in 1940, so too late.
"A Nursery story ...featuring Little Grey Rabbit, Wise Owl, Hare, Fuzzypeg etc."

 

[Matteo]

Sorry, I was thinking perhaps he sent her  another story by Uttley - which encouraged Priscilla to ask for Moldy Warp three years later. But I don't think Uttley is right, so no hint there.

 

[Dave]

Sorry, I was only thinking that we just need to find some book in the Goldilocks zone, of not too early nor not too late, but just right!