An extraordinary archive of material relating to Tolkien's collaboration with Donald Swann in the production of The Road Goes Ever On. The Archive comprises, 1. The original holograph manuscript for Tolkien's Notes and Translations section and the dustwrapper design of The Road Goes Ever On, which includes two calligraphic manuscript poems in Tengwar script (used for the design of the front and back covers of the dustwrapper):i. "Namárie" or Galadriel's Lament, 13 lines and two lines of title in black and red calligraphy on one page.ii. "A Elbereth Gilthoniel", five lines plus a two lines title in black and red calligraphy on one page.iii. Accompanying Text: 13 pages on eight leaves of closely written autograph manuscript (approx 4000 words in total), plus two pages in facsimile providing a translation and commentary on the two Elvish poems.2. 21 letters by Tolkien (14 autograph, six typed and one telegram) to Donald Swann, of varying lengths from 1965-1973 forming an extensive discussion on Swann's settings of Tolkien's poetry, in total 39 pages and approx. 7500 words.

An extraordinary archive of manuscripts and letters relating to the songs and poems Tolkien wrote for Lord of the Rings and the collaboration with Donald Swann which led to the publication of The Road Goes Ever On. Swann explains the origins of his association with Tolkien in his foreword to The Road Goes Ever On.
"After my wife had communicated to me her passion for the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings, we found we were reading them more or less every spring... My wife suggested that I copy out some lyrics from the three books and set them to music en route [to Jordan, returning from a tour of Australia]. I had been performing for four months and I had an appetite for composing. That is how the first six of these songs came to be written on a beautiful Steinway grand piano in Ramallah outside Jerusalem... On my return to England the firm of George Allen and Unwin was good enough to give me permission to use the lyrics, and also to put me in touch with Professor Tolkien."
With that introduction began an association which quickly developed into a warm friendship which would last for the remainder of Tolkien's life. After their first meeting in late May 1965 it seems Tolkien was pleased, even flattered to have his songs set to music by Swann, and for the most part approved of the music, but had had a different type of melody in mind for Galadriel's lament, Namárië and hummed a Gregorian chant, which Swann developed into the new melody.
Almost a year later, in the spring of 1966 Swann and the baritone, William Elvin, gave a performance of the songs in Tolkien's rooms at Merton in celebration of the Tolkiens' golden wedding anniversary. Later that year, whilst on a USA tour, Swann mentioned the songs to Austin Olney of Houghton Mifflin, who was enthusiastic about the prospect of publishing the works as a song cycle.
Whilst Swann's perspective was mostly musical and Olney's commercial, Tolkien, whose involvement in this project it was clear, must extend well beyond the original composition of the poems, was primarily concerned with language. Language, its expression and development, had been a lifelong fascination for Tolkien both professionally as a philologist and as an author of fiction. The tales of Middle Earth for which he is now famous have their genesis in the family of Elvish languages that he began to construct in the 1930s from which grew the history and sociolinguistics which in turn begat the legendarium into which he fitted the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Swann had chosen two poems in Elvish and it was apparent from the outset that these would need Tolkien's assistance with pronunciation and metre both to aid composer and for any performer. At various points throughout their correspondence Tolkien offers instruction for performance and also context for the language and its place in the Lord of the Rings narrative. This Tolkien refined and adapted into the essay which makes up the commentary for The Road Goes Ever On, the original manuscript for which is included here.
'Namárië' appears on p.394 of The Fellowship of the Ring, where it is sung by Galadriel to Frodo as he leaves Lothórien, and is her wistful hope that he will reach the Undying Lands of the West, from which she was banished years ago. It is the longest piece that Tolkien wrote in Quenya, the language of the clans of High Elves, the Noldor and the Vanyar, who left Middle Earth for Eldarmar. It is symbolic of the high status of the Elves, the first born race of Middle Earth. By the Third Age, the time of the setting of The Lord of the Rings, Quenya had become an archaic language learned for academic purposes (Tolkien refered to is as Elf-latin). It is Galadriel's native tongue.
Tolkien's commentary gives a literal translation into English and also some context to the song's composition in the history of middle earth, "After the destruction of the Two Trees, and the flight from Valinor of the revolting Eldar [high elves], Varda lifted up her hands, in obedience to the decree of Manwe, and summoned up the dark shadows which engulfed the shores and the mountains and last of all the fama (figure) of Varda, with her hands turned eastward in rejection, standing white upon Oiolosse." The importance of Galadriel's part in this, "She was the last survivor of the princes and queens who had led the revolting Noldor to exile in Middle-earth. After the overthrow of Morgoth at the end of the First Age a ban was set upon her return, and she had replied proudly that she had not wish to do so… In the event, after the fall of Sauron, in reward for all that she had done to oppose him, but above all for her rejection of the Ring when it came within her power, the ban was lifted, and she returned over the Sea, as is told at the end of The Lord of the Rings."
There is a section of technical instruction about metre, "The metre is iambic, in lines of 5 or 6 feet each. The first part, lines 1-7, is in alternating lines: 5, 6, 5, 6, etc. The separate line 8 has also 5 feet..."
And a glossary, "Varda: 'the Exalted', greatest of the queens of the Valar… Laurë is translated 'gold' but it was not a metallic word... Calaciryo. Gen. of Cala-cirya, "light-cleft," the great ravine in the mountains of Valinor..." etc.
'A Elbereth Gilthoniel' appears in full on p.250 of The Fellowship of the Ring. It is heard by Frodo and Bilbo has the leave the Elven Hall of Fire. Bilbo alludes to its meaning, "It is a song to Elbereth [or Varda]... They will sing that, and other songs of the Blessed Realm, many times tonight.", and later "I'll take a walk, I think, and look at the stars of Elbereth in the garden...".
It is essentially a hymn written in Sindarin, the language of the Grey Elves and the most widely spoken during the Third Age, and is woven throughout The Lord of the Rings, appearing several times in different forms. It is notable that until this translation and notes, Tolkien leave the meaning deliberately opaque, possibly to give the impression that there is a great deal about Middle Earth which remains unknown or allowing the reader to enjoy the phonics of the language for its own sake, something Tolkien set a great store by.
Tolkien's notes deal mostly with the subtleties of the different Elven dialects, "The language is Sindarin, but of a variety used by the High Elves (of which kind were most of the Elves in Rivendell), marked in high style and verse by the influence of Quenya... For instance, silivren would recall to Elvish minds the silmarils and describe the stars as crystalline forms shining from within with a light of mysterious power."
There is also an explanation of the hymns uses throughout the book,
"As a "divine" or "angelic" person Varda / Elbereth could be said to be "looking afar from heaven" (as in Sam's invocation)... She was often thought of, or depicted, as standing on a great height looking towards Middle-earth, with eyes that penetrated the shadows, and listening to the cries for aid of Elves (and Men) in peril or grief. Frodo (Vol. I, p. 208) and Sam both invoke her in moments of extreme peril... (These and other references to religion in The Lord of the Rings are frequently overlooked.)
The Elves in Rivendell could only be said to "gaze afar" in yearning. But actually the form used in the hymn is palandiriel... This is a reference to the palantir upon the Tower Hills (the "Stone of Elendil")... After the fall of Elendil the High-Elves took back this Stone into their own care, and it was not destroyed, nor again used by Men..."
Tolkien finishes with a brief glossary and an extended passage on the subtleties of meaning in the Elven lexicons as well as a paragraph on Sindarin grammar.
The collection of letters form an extraordinary cycle of correspondence following Swann's introduction to Tolkien from Allen & Unwin in 1965 until shortly before his death in 1973, showing the development of a friendship and mutual admiration and trust which went well beyond a professional relationship. Tolkien given the impression of being uncharacteristically star-struck by Swann's show business reputation but also seems to quickly have decided he is a man of discernment whose opinions are aligned to Tolkien's on matters of artistic taste and can be trusted to appreciate his more candid views.
Most of the matter concerns The Road Goes Ever On project, starting after the two met for Tolkien to approve Swann's settings of the songs, "I have tried to make some notes on the chant", Tolkien notes (7 June 1965) having preferred it to Swann's setting for Namárië. The burgeoning of their friendship is apparent from Tolkien's invitation to a Flanders & Swann concert, "I have not laughed so much... since I last saw an archbishop of Canterbury slip on a banana-skin", and sending him a copy of Tom Bombadil, "Its a fairly pretty book, except the ugly lettering which disfigures the cover." (19 Sept 1965). Also the preparations for Tolkien's golden wedding anniversary, for which Swann and Elvin were invited to perform the songs and his thanks to Swann for his "great kindness and generosity in gracing our party, and raising it far above the level of college receptions." (28 March 1966), but also his misgivings of allowing a journalist to report on the party, "Publicity is the soul of Success [But may also be the fly in the Ointment]" (21 March 1966), and Tolkien's discomfort at the publicity his own fame has forced upon him, such as the 1968 BBC documentary, 'Tolkien in Oxford', "I am merely impressed by the complete 'bogosity' of the whole performance. The producer: a very nice, very young man called Leslie Megahey… and personally equipped with some intelligence and insight, was nonetheless already so muddled and confused by BBCism that the last thing in the world he wished to show was me as I am / or was, let alone 'human or lifesize'. I was lost in a world of gimmickry and nonsense, as far as it had any sign designed it seemed simply to fix the image of a fuddy not to say duddy old fireside hobbit-like boozer… they appeared completely confused between ME and my story, and I was made to attend a firework show… Fireworks have no special relation to me. They appear in the books … because they are part of the representation of Gandalf nearer of the Ring of Fire, the Kindler: the most childlike aspect shown to the Hobbits being fireworks." (29 February 1968)
As the prospect of publishing Swann's settings of the songs hoves into view, Tolkien devotes some time to providing context for the songs within Lord of the Rings, for the pupose of performance, particularly the two in Elvish. "Galadriel was a southerner, but I have no doubt some of the Elvish folk up at Rivendellhad a northern accent. We will suppose that W[illiam] E[lvin] represents Glorfindel. But let him trill his Rs. All Elves did that!" (21 March 1966).
In common with most of his books, Tolkien hold strong views on their production. He had already complained bitterly about the jacket design for Tree and Leaf, "It makes me sick. Behold a pollarded chestnut (?), made to look like a revolving sea-anemone, making a 'modesty gesture' with one of its tentacles – possibly in a vain attempt to conceal the deliberately hideous lettering. What has that to do with the contents?"
In the case of the Road Goes Ever On, Tolkien is keen to be involved, "This business of the Elvish Songs, and versions, and examples of Elvish script is just precisely what I like doing" (20 March 1967). However there is quickly friction between Tolkien and the production team at Houghton Mifflin, "I cannot visualise what is meant by weaving the Elvish writing round the music. It might be decorative; but it also might be absurd...". Matters come to a head with the desire to use broken up pieces of Elvish text has space fillers and tailpieces, "tasteless squiggles or equivalent space fillers... This kind of calligraphic flourishes… do not accord with texts that are either simple or rustic, or else (as the Elvish) remote and archaic… The elvish decorations begin by being inaccurate and end in mere nonsense."
As the publication draws near, Tolkien makes arrangements for the day of a launch party at Crosby Hall, in which Swann and Elvin will again perform, "If there is any corner (in 40 Museum Street?) where an old boozy hobbit could snooze for a bit, that should suite me. But then I might stalk forth like an Ent refreshed, with a hoom and a ha and descend on you?"
As well as practical matters, the correspondence is littered with asides about his and his families health, tongue in cheek political views, "Do you think the World Court would listed to a proposal that we would let the Spaniards have the Rock [Gibraltar], if Boston was returned to us?", and an interesting passage in the genesis of the Inlings, "an undergraduate club that used to hear its members read unpublished poems or short tales, and voted some of them into a minute books. They invented the name Inklings, and not I or Lewis. The Club lasted the usual year or two of undergraduate societies; and the name became transferred to the circle of C.S.Lewis, when only he and I were left of it."
Substantial Tolkien manuscript material is almost unknown in commerce, the vast majority being held institutionally, either in Marquette University in Milwaukee or in The Bodleian Library in Oxford. This manuscript is the only one for one of Tolkien's major books to remain in private hands. With its supplementary cycle of correspondence, it is unquestionably the most important archive of Tolkien material to be offered for sale in more than a generation.

PROVENANCE: Donald Swann (1923-1994) British composer and entertainer; by family descent.

Stock ID: 45531