The Girdle of Melian

is for Z end of the list and the third and final part of the #TolkienCollection Photo Challenge ! Part one of the Tolkien photo challenge was under the letter K and answered the first seven questions. Part two of the Tolkien photo challenge was under the letter R and covered questions 8 through 14. Here's part three of the #TolkienCollection: 15. Item you consider to be a must-have for every collector -- authorised editions of the books, of course! I don't mind collecting other editions, but during my annual rereads I only ever read the 50th anniversary edition, since it has most of the typos and errors corrected. I'd like to get the 60th anniversary edition... 16. Top three items you'd take on an adventure -- The Lord of the Rings and copies of The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers plus some of the poems. Also the original Caedmon recordings. Is that a lot of books to carry in one's backpack? Maybe, but I've always done that -- carried more b...

is for Dorothy Sayers and W. H. Auden. Lewis and Tolkien both admired many of Sayers' works -- except for the Lord Peter Wimsey stories. "'She was the first person of importance who ever wrote me a fan-letter,' [Lewis] later recalled, and he added, 'I liked her, originally, because she liked me; later, for the extraordinary zest and edge of her conversation -- as I like a high wind.' She did not, however, come to any meetings of the Inklings. ... 'She never met our own club,' Lewis said, 'and probably never knew of its existence.'" (all quotes from Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings and The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien ) She was also an admirer of Charles Williams : "'I got in from Magdalen last night about 12 and found her sitting up' [he wrote to his wife]. 'We conversed till 2.15. I like the old dear, but she's rather heavy going. I should find 2.15 late for one's dearest friends -- but what can one do....

is for X marks the spot! Not strictly Inklings-related, but a recap of some Tolkien travel-related places I've visited, in Switzerland, England, and Italy. Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen : Lauterbrunnen is widely thought to be the inspiration for Rivendell. Click on the photo for the post featuring all photos! Hurst Green in Lancashire :   A very Shire-like place. Can you see me in the tree? Click on the photo for the post featuring all photos! Venice :   Bookstore with books in a gondola...and a gondola gliding by! Click on the photo for the post featuring all photos! Speaking of books, here's what I got at the Library in English book sale! And just a couple of days ago at a lunchtime book sale hosted by the staff association of the World Meterological Organization: Don't forget to keep commenting on the A to Z posts, for your chance to win in my 1000 posts contest ! Two posts to go in the challenge! How's everyon...

is for World War I. The 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme is this summer. While at King Edward's School in Birmingham, Tolkien and three friends, Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Smith, and Christopher Wiseman, formed an unofficial and semi-secret society called the TCBS (The Tea Club and Barrovian Society name alluded to their meeting spots -- tea in the library (which was not permitted) and Barrow's Stores near the school). They kept in touch after leaving school and, following a "council" of the TCBS in 1914 , Tolkien began devoting more energy to writing poetry, thanks to the shared ideals and mutual encouragement of the Society. Tolkien, Gilson, and Smith were at the Battle of the Somme. On leaving, as he crossed the English channel with his battalion, Tolkien wrote a poem called "The Lonely Isle", a haunting verse subtitled "For England". Gilson was killed in action almost on the first day of the battle. Smith was killed in 1916. ...

is for various readings. I love the idea of the Inklings reading aloud from their essays and stories and poems, discussing all sorts of ideas having to do with myth and fairy tales and history and language... All over a pint or two in firelit rooms... It's funny to think of, but they probably sat with their hands idle. Whereas a group of women, when they met, would have had a quilting circle, or a bit of sewing or knitting in their hands. Speaking of which, I never really specified it as part of my ROW80 goals, but I still try to keep up my knitting projects! The only thing is, I seem to have been a bit lax in taking photographs. I'm in the middle of three things at the moment, a blanket for a cousin's new baby, a shawl for a friend, and a sweater for myself (that one is not likely to ever be finished). In between I made a few more new-baby items , including these wee hats: It's a good thing that I have other photos to share instead! It's inter...

is for University of Oxford. I feel badly that I don't have new photos to share. We've been talking about taking a quick weekend trip to revisit Oxford; I'd especially like to see the parts I haven't gone to yet, including a visit to Tolkien's grave, a visit to Lewis' grave, a drink at the Mitre, a drink at the Lamb and Flag, afternoon tea at the Eastgate hotel... Until then, though, I leave you with two quotes from Tolkien's collected letters: During the war, Tolkien was involved in teaching forces cadets at the university, on the wartime 'short courses'. He reports in a letter to C. S. Lewis on a fellow teacher, M. R. Ridley, who was "astounded at the ignorance of all 22 cadets" and adds in a PS: "Ridley's first question in the test-paper was a group of words to define -- apposite, reverend, venal, choric, secular, and a few others. Not one case got any of the words right." If I'm being completely honest, ...

is for Christopher Tolkien,Tolkien's youngest son and, later, editor and publisher of many posthumous works, plus the 12-volume History of Middle-Earth series. [Reminder: Don't forget to keep commenting, for your chance to win in my 1000 posts contest !] There is a LOT of Tolkien we'd never have seen, if not for the tireless efforts of Christopher! Christopher Tolkien talks about his father: Christopher Tolkien talks about his father and languages: Christopher Tolkien talks about The Silmarillion : Christopher Tolkien read the end of The Lord of the Rings : I like this entry from C. S. Lewis's brother's diary in 1946 (quoted in Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings ): "'An exquisitely lovely spring day. [To] the Bird and Baby as usual in the morning, where I had started on my second pint before J [C. S. Lewis] arrive. When Humbhrey [Harvard] came, he suggested an adjournement to the Trout at Godstow; which, picking up C...