Letters from Father Christmas

by J. R. R. Tolkien

This revised edition of Tolkien’s famous illustrated letters from Father Christmas to his children includes a number of pictures and letters that have not been seen in print before. The perfect Christmas gift for Tolkien lovers of all ages.

This classic festive book of Tolkien’s amazing Father Christmas letters written to his children between the 1920s and the 1940s has been reworked into a new and attractive edition. It contains brand new high-quality digital reproductions of his amazing letters and pictures, including a number them that have never been printed before.

‘My dear children, I am more shaky than usual this year. The North Polar Bear’s fault. It was the biggest bang in the world, and the most monstrous firework there has ever been. It turned the North Pole black!’

Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J. R. R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful coloured drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas.

They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole:
• How all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place.
• How the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining-room
• How he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden
• How there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house!

Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humour to the stories. From the first note to Tolkien’s eldest son in 1920 to the final poignant letter to his daughter in 1943, this book collects all the remarkable letters and pictures in one enchanting edition. No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by the inventiveness of Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas.

• ISBN13: 9780007463374
• Publish Date: 27 September 2012 (first published 27 October 1995)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 18 January 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[wcs53]

This was a great little book I received for Christmas. I like that these letters were kept and preserved over the years, then put into print years after Tolkien's passing so that they could be enjoyed by many others. They give an insight into the love and interest that Tolkien had for his children. A lot of thought, imagination, and effort went into these annual letters, and you get an idea of the life his four children had as they grew up.