Transmission theory: what the heck was Tolkien thinking?

[Galin]

I stumbled across the following from JRRT (letter 276 to Richard Plotz), to mix into Hammond and Scull's Chronology. But first, I can't recall any reference to Elfwine dating to after the later 1950s early 1960s "phase". The fact that some sort of Elfwine scenario was in the mix even after the first edition Lord of the Rings was published brings up its own questions, but anyway I emphasize the first edition here because Bilbo's translations are said to be some books of lore that he gave to Frodo, while two notable Elder Days references come along in the second, revised edition of the 1960s.

As noted already, in 1962 ATB is published, which reveals that Rivendell holds Elvish and Numenorean Lore, and a Tale of Turin and Mim is referred to as Numenorean.

1965, 25 July Tolkien sends his new text, Note On The shire Records, to Houghton Mifflin Company, for insertion after the Prologue to the revised edition. So now the reader learns that Bilbo's Translations From The Elvish were "almost entirely concerned with the Elder Days". And JRRT ultimately added in Appendix A (revised edition) that the ancient legends of the First Age were Bilbo's chief interest.


1965, 12 September Tolkien replies to Mr. Plotz, in which he mentions the Numenorean Tale The Mariner's Wife, adding:

"This is supposed to have been preserved in the Downfall, when most of Numenorean lore was lost except that that dealt with the First Age, because it tells how Numenor became involved in the politics of Middle-earth."

So as I read this, less that two months after the new Note On The Shire Records is sent to publishers, JRRT explains to Richard Plotz that First Age Numenorean Lore was not lost, when much else Numenorean lore was lost at the Downfall.

I'm wondering if I can get a date (if known), with respect to the month, for the letter that gave rise to this thread? The excerpt being...

"Is there going to be another book? Professor Tolkien is hoping to complete for publication another work, called the Silmarillion, an account of the history and mythology of the First and Second Ages and the early part of the Third Age as it has come down through the Numenoreans, but he is kept from it by other matters..."

__________

For anyone interested, Tolkien did meet with Mr. Plotz later.

1966, I November Tolkien meets with Richard Plotz, who is quoted at least twice referring to Bilbo's possible involvement with respect to the Silmarillion material (that is, a report by Dick Plotz referring to when he visited Tolkien on 1 November, 1966):

Tolkien tells him that one of the snags delaying publication of The Silmarillion is its quasi-biblical style, which Tolkien considers "his best, but his publishers disagree. Another problem is that of finding a story line to connect all the parts. "At the moment, Professor Tolkien is considering making use of Bilbo again ... perhaps the Silmarillion will appear as his research in Rivendell."

Hammond And Scull, Chronology

Here Mr. Plotz puts it another way...

"he, half-heartedly I suppose, was thinking up schemes for rendering the Silmarillion publishable. So far, I think what he is doing is relating it to Bilbo's stay in Rivendell, which is what he said to me.

Now there is a hint of this somewhere in The Lord of the Rings.... But apparently when Bilbo went to Rivendell he was surrounded by Elves and all Elven records for seventeen years. Here was living history and he attempted to write it down, and this is what became the Silmarillion ["An Edited Transcript of Remarks at the December 1966 TSA [Tolkien Society of America] Meeting"; Niekas 19 (Spring 1967), p. 40]
Hammond and Scull, Reader's Guide

I wish we had Tolkien's exact words here, in any event.