I'm really glad you are going to get to see it, Impy. By all accounts, it is spectacular. My Mom (who is not a big Tolkien fan) went and loved it, so there is every hope that Mark will enjoy it too.

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In gratitude forever … .

Yayy! When?

I see it for the first time this Fri, along with a 30 min lecture by its curator.

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*title copyright: Teremia

'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude

How did the lecture go, if you don't mind me asking?

There were a number of events, though I ended up not being there for any of them. I would've liked to see the Hammond & Scull lecture back in January but I lost track of things last semester, and by the time I remembered about it tickets were already sold out.

I saw an exhibition some years ago at Marquette University in Milwaukee, but this sounds more extensive. They have (what I would imagine) are smaller showings several times this year.

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My heart is forever in the Shire.

There are items from Marquette's collection in this exhibition, along with items from the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford (home of the other major repository of Tolkien material, and which organized the current exhibition) and apparently some other organizations and individuals as well. Marquette has the original manuscripts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and I'm sure they put more on display than they've currently loaned out, though the scope of the "Maker of Middle-earth" exhibition is broader, covering more than just TH and LOTR.

As I recall, the exhibit I saw also had items/drawings/manuscripts from his children's books, Mr. Bliss being one (that I'd not previously heard of). His handwriting is so unique. I can't imagine the job his son Christopher had in going through all of that material.

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My heart is forever in the Shire.

The Curator's lecture on the Exhibition was really-really well done. they were so overwhelmed the first time, that the second talk (the one I attended ) was held in an auditorium. He had slides showing the connection between Tolkien's Mom's writing on a X'mas card (fancy letters) and Tolkien's early fancy letters, and his interest in scripts. Slides showing the arching theme of path between Two trees, from an early sketch Tolkien created to the famous Hobbit dust jacket. The original dust jacket was also in display - with the Publisher's scribbles on the margin "Lose the Red".

Two things I really enjoyed in the exhibit (I did not get to see the whole thing, it was super crowded because of the talk, I think) were the Timeline that Tolkien created for the events in LOTR, and his letter to Mitchison - a letter that apparently lead to Tolkien fleshing out the backstories for LOTR. I did not get to read the full letter.

But I did buy the big fat catalog book - that might have the full letter. I haven't looked.

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*title copyright: Teremia

'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude

And I absolutely loved this Moleskine I bought from the bookstore:

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*title copyright: Teremia

'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude