Fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien is best-known for writing The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but he has a small body of work outside of his Middle-earth stories, too. One particularly notable work is a collection of Christmas letters that he wrote to his children between 1920 and 1942, and which are now being re-released in a new, beautiful edition called Letters from Father Christmas.
Tolkien wrote the letters from the point of view of Santa Claus or his elves, talking about his fantastic adventures, and provided some fantastic illustrations. (You can see some examples on OpenCulture). Tolkien’s estate first released a collection of the letters in 1976, edited by Baillie Tolkien, although this is reportedly the first time that every single letter and illustration has been included in one collection.
This new edition looks a little fancier (DANCING PENGUINS! – Ed.) and includes several letters and illustrations that haven’t been included in prior editions. The book comes in a handsome slipcase and features high-quality digital reproductions of each letter. According to Amazon, the book comes out on October 17th, although the site hasn’t yet listed a price. If anything, it looks as though it’ll be a fantastic gift for Tolkien fans this holiday season.
