Tolkien's letters from Father Christmas to go on show

The great fantasy writer penned handwritten illustrated letters from Father Christmas for his children

JRR Tolkien wrote his first Father Christmas letter in 1920, when his three year old son John asked who Father Christmas was and where he lived. He carried on writing an illustrated letter each Christmas Eve until 1943.

The letters will form part of the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition at Oxford's Bodleian Libraries in 2018.

Catherine McIlwaine, Tolkien archivist at the Bodleian Libraries and curator of the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition said:
‘The Father Christmas letters are some of my favourite items in the exhibition. The letters were delivered by the postman, who’d been persuaded by Tolkien to deliver them with the rest of the post, or arrived on the hearth with specially made stamps from the North Pole, marked with the cost of postage ‘2 kisses’. They contained news from the North Pole where Father Christmas lived with his ‘helper’ the North Polar Bear, who often got into trouble and caused twice as much work for Father Christmas. As the Tolkien children grew older, the letters from Father Christmas grew longer and the tales became darker and more thrilling.’

Some letters were written during the period Tolkien was writing The Hobbit. Goblins put in an appearance in 1932 – they lived in a cave under the North Pole and stole the children's Christmas presents. Elvish characters called 'Red Gnomes' also appeared, helping Father Christmas to fight the goblins.

Letters from Father Christmas is published by HarperCollins. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth runs form 1 June to 28 October 2018.

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