A Tolkien Treasure Trove

Apprentice Archivist: A

Tolkieniana April 2018

The picture shows a selection of books and games by or about Tolkien. The collection now has an apprentice archivist and curator, AHB. He has risen to the challenge and has been adding to the collection (as well as covering his bedroom walls with Middle Earth maps and memorabilia).

My own interest in Tolkien began was I was 11 years old and was inspired by my cousin, RW. In summer 1966, I came down to London from Warwickshire to spend a fortnight with my cousins who lived in a five bedroom council flat in Hampstead. RW was a fascinating man who left a lasting impression on me. He worked for St Dunstan's (helping blind servicemen) but had many, varied hobbies and interests (read, passions). These included:

• the study of Greek, Latin and (towards the end of his life) Hebrew; searching for ancient tomes in Portobello Road and in sundry antiquarian bookshops;
• amateur photography, developing prints in his own dark room at home;
• collecting tobacco pipes;
• musicology (he played the piano and was the only man I ever met who could hum a tune and accompany himself with his own whistle);
• theology, liturgy and all things related (he was a convert in the heyday of the 20th century Catholic renaissance)
• story-telling  (I still recall his tale of 'elementals' as we walked in the dark along the canal towpath from Hartshill to Mancetter.

His wife, Cecilia, was a cousin of my mother, both MacDonalds of Clanranald from Moidart. His children included:

• one daughter who married a South African concert pianist;
• a second who was a Latin scholar but whose dissertation at university was on Bossuet; she became a religious sister; 
• a third daughter who was a vivacious young rebel of the sixties;
• a son who had poems read on the BBC and was a humorist and story-teller;
• a second son who became a virtuoso on the recorder family of instruments. 

Vietnamese Ent (Surrey 2018)