Revised and Expanded Edition of the Letters

[Ar-Zigûr]

In his Letter 131 (late 1951) addressed to Milton Waldman, Tolkien once again identified the beginning of the First Age with the Awakening of the Elves. There's the quote: "The History of the Eldar (Englished as ‘Elves’, but the pre-Shakespearian sense is intended), or Silmarillion proper. Nexus of legends, and stories in chronological order, into which some major tales are woven. Contains the ‘history’ of the First Age, from the coming of the Eldar to its end with overthrow of Morgoth-melkor, the first Dark Lord. Called The Silmarillion, because most of the history and tales are grouped about or refer to the Three Great Jewels of Fëanor (the Silmarils), their making, theft, the war for their recovery, and their final loss." Now that's finally well established that the First Age began with the Awakening, not the first sunrise.