Letters from Father Christmas, Revised Edition [Hardcover]

J.R.R. Tolkien (Author)

Book Description

Every December, an envelope 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 color drawing. The letters told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer 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; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with a troublesome horde of goblins. Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, adding yet more humor to the stories. No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by the inventiveness of Tolkien's Father Christmas Letters.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tolkien at his relaxed and ingenious best." The Times of London

About the Author

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) was the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and The Children of H�rin. His books have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Rev Sub edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061800937X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618009374
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,114,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892.1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but even as he studied these classics he was creating a set of his own.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great children's stories. Make sure to buy the new edition!, December 30, 2001

By 

Craig Childs (Cordova, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Father Christmas, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

It is not surprising the creator of Middle Earth, and the father of the fantasy genre, would create such an elaborate, creative collection of Christmas stories for his children. This book is a nice addition to my library, as it contains the text of the letters, as well as Tolkien's hand-drawn illustrations and North Pole post markings.

While this book does not relate to his Middle Earth universe, it is easy to recognize the origin of some of its characters. The goblin attack on Santa's cellar presages the Goblin-Elf wars in Lord of the Rings. Santa's elf-secretary Ilbereth is the obvious progenitor of the ancient elf-queen Elbereth. We even get a glimpse of elvish writing and the goblin alphabet!

If you have the chance, buy the new revised version of this book. I have the 1991 reissue edition. It is only 48 pages long, and omits the letters from 1920 - 1924 and from 1939-1942 . The new edition is one hundred pages longer and contains previously unpublished material.

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a stunningly beautiful book, November 24, 2001

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from Father Christmas, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

"Letters From Father Christmas" is stunningly beautiful. I have no words to describe how wonderful this book is. It is a great book for the Christmas season.

"Letters From Father Christmas" is a collection of the Letters that J.R.R. Tolkien's children received from Father Christmas (what they call Santa in England) during the over twenty years between 1920 and 1943.

Each letter is reprinted along with their accompanying illustrations. Father Christmas' letters are beautiful in their own right, but I am blown away by his illustrations. Some of this art deserves to be in a museum.

The letters each tell a story. The North Polar Bear (Santa's friend and assistant) figures prominently in these tales. Other characters (elves, goblins, the snow man--who is Father Christmas's gardener, and the man in the moon) add depth and humor to these tales from the North.

Some of these letters had my daughter rolling with laughter as we read them together. They are quite funny no matter what age you happen to be (the Polar Bear's commentaries had me laughing).

This is a great book. Readers cannot fail to be moved by these letters and stories. I give "Letters From Father Christmas" my highest recommendation.

83 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Return to Sender, November 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Letters From Father Christmas (Hardcover)

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his children a beautifully illustrated letter from Father Christmas each year. They are wonderful and witty adventures, with the holiday ever-threatened by the antics and errors of the bumbling North Polar Bear. Somehow F.C. and the elves always managed to stay up all night and make enough toys to save the day. The original edition of these letters, "The Father Christmas Letters," has been hard to find for some years. This newer edition was promising- each letter was enclosed in an envelope (much like the "Griffin and Sabine" books)- a nice touch, and expensive for the publisher to produce. Unfortunately, they did not go to the additional expense of actually including the full letters if they were longer than one page, as many are. Each year gets a single page, regardless of the actual length of the original letter. So many of the stories and adventures are cut off with no resolution. This edition is poorly slapped-together and unworthy of the artistry of the originals. Whomever is responsible should be ashamed.