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“I now suggest as titles of the volumes, under the over-all title The Lord of the Rings: Vol. I The…

tolkienmatters: “I now suggest as titles of the volumes, under the over-all title The Lord of the Rings: Vol. I The Fellowship of the Ring. Vol. II The Two Towers. Vol. III The War of the Ring (or, if you still prefer that: The Return of the King).

The Fellowship of the Ring will do, I think; and fits well with the fact that the last chapter of the Volume is The Breaking of the Fellowship. The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 and 4; and can be left ambiguous – it might refer to Isengard and Barad-dûr, or to Minas Tirith and B; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol.”

(From a letter to Rayner Unwin 17 August 1953, LJRRT, Carpenter)

“I am not at all happy about the title ‘the Two Towers’. It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading. There is, of course, actually no real connecting link between Books III and IV, when cut off and presented separately as a volume”

(From a letter to Rayner Unwin 22 January 1954, LJRRT, Carpenter)

• Tolkien’s opinions on the “Two Towers” as the subtitle for Vol. II of the Lord of the Rings. (Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Carpenter)

Mr. Bliss is an illustrated children’s story by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1982. It tells the…

tolkienmatters:

Mr. Bliss is an illustrated children’s story by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1982. It tells the story of Mr. Bliss and his first ride in his new motor-car. Many adventures follow: encounters with bears, angry neighbours, irate shopkeepers, and assorted collisions. As some of you might realize, It was inspired by Tolkien’s own vehicular mishaps with his first car. It was written and illustrated by Tolkien himself. “Gaffer Gamgee” and “Sergeant Boffin” would have their namesakes reappear in Lord of the Rings.

“Mr. Bliss got into the motor-car and started off. Soon he asked himself:

“Where are you going to, Mr. Bliss?”

“I don’t know, Mr. Bliss” he answered himself.

“Let’s go and visit the Dorkinses, and give them a surprise!”

“Very well!” said Mr. Bliss to himself, “very well!”

So he turned sharp to the right at the next turning, and ran straight into Mr. Day, coming from his garden with a barrow-load of cabbages. This shows what happened

• Mr. Bliss driving into Mr. Day per the image. Mr. Bliss.

Informative links:

Mr. Bliss: Tolkien’s Little-Known Children’s Book for His Own Kids, Lovingly Handwritten and Illustrated by the Author Himself – The Marginalian

Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond, ‘Mr. Bliss’ - The Tolkien Estate

Megan McCarty on Substack

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