Father Christmas Letters: 1927

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Alas, I wasn't able to find a usable image of the picture that goes with the 1927 letter! (Perhaps one of you will have better luck.) That is especially deplorable because it is an unusual picture - a night scene on a dark green background, painted with white, with only a few red touches to enliven it. What made Tolkien choose to draw it in this fashion is unknown. Ostensibly he painted the picture with snow from the damaged Snow Man.

We see the North Pole (still patched in red) in the middle, the North Polar Bear front left, and the cliff with Father Christmas' house on the right. The constellation Great Bear (Big Dipper) is depicted, and a comet brings light from the right edge. The story explanation for the darkness is of course the absence of the aurora borealis, since NPB exploded two years' worth of it the year before. I find the "hiring" of a comet to give a bit of light amusing!

The Man in the Moon shows up again, with a story similar to the poems in the Tom Bombadil Adventures - drinking too much and falling asleep. This apparently refers to a lunar eclipse which took place in December of that year, according to Hammond and Scull (Companion and Guide).

The letter is quite long and includes several notes by the NPB as well as some of JRRT's typical doodlings. There is a drawing of the hearth rug that looks very like his heraldic devices and Númenorean rug or tile drawings. I am always impressed with Tolkien's beautiful calligraphy!