Quote:
Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle
Ah, ha! This is the letter I was remembering.
Evidently he did use the designation on his stationery, as evidenced by Letter #112, though I will not speculate on his status as a domestic potentate!
|
Ah, that one. Good find,
Hilde. I can well imagine "The Professor" laughing at custom while still using it, you know.
It's a bit interesting as Carpenter's note says that is a
postcard. Did postcards have a cheaper postal rate than enveloped letters and were they usd for quick notes and queries and such? Given that #112 includes the address of Merton College, I wonder what the practice was of official Oxford letterhead. Is that in effect an official letterhead rather than personal stationary? Or did the tweedy set include both their place of work and personal abode on their official paper? That certainly would not be done these days in North America.
It's quite a conundrum, figuring out this wee bit of cultural custom.
By the by, that link from
davem includes this passage written by Tolkien, dated 9 June 1945. I've heard Tolkien fans adamently insist that The Professor would never use such language!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by http://tolkienletter.blogspot.com/
Professors, too, seem dying or retiring everywhere, and as I am now (as a survivor) or adviser in half a dozen places, I have had a hell of a lot of letters to write.
|
Of course, I hasten to add that I can't find any information that would verify those letters on that blog--or the home page for that blog. Who is this
"David' who has posted the letters and where are they--in a private collection or in the many university and BBC archives?
In North America, "professor" is a job title. The title of "Doctor" derived from the PhD degree, however, is a lifetime sentence.
