Would he have done it?

[Kuruharan]

It would be a bit more simpler if the passage and/or the whole letter could be quoted here

Simpler for you, not us.

What you are supposed to do is proceed out from your place of residence or wage slavery (whichever the case may be at the moment) and go forth to the nearest outlet of some multi-tentacled corporate monstrosity of a book purveyor, or (better and better) a locally owned version of the same, and purchase yourself a copy of said Letters for your enlightened reading pleasure. No Tolkien library can be complete without it.

Such silly purchases as food and drink pale in comparison with the need to own Letters.

(Unless you are like me and blow the vast majority of your lucre on video games...that is perfectly legitimate. )