Often quoted, but apparently not nearly often enough:
"I doubt if there would have been much gain; and I hope the, evidently long but undefined, gap* in time between the Fall of Barad-dūr and our Days is sufficient for 'literary credibility', even for readers acquainted with what is known or surmised of 'pre-history'.
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* I imagine the gap to be about 6000 years : that is we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as S.A. and T.A. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh." (Letter 211)
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