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Ilandir
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Post 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 11, 2009 09:13
Ok, so it's quite out of the main LoTR subject, but it's still a Tolkien book, right? Most Tolkien fans know about this, but for those who don't, here's a brief description.

'Songs for the Philologists' is the rarest Tolkien-related book. It is a collection of poems by E.V. Gordon, Tolkien and other authors of the 'Viking Club' (around the 1920s). The copies were privately printed in 1936 but because no permssion was asked from the authors, the copies weren't distributed.

Eventually the building housing these copies was destroyed during World War II and it is believed that only 14 copies of the book now exist. From a total of 30 songs, 13 were written by Tolkien.

My question is this. I know 5 of Tolkien's poems can be found in 'The Road to Middle Earth' and 'The History of the Hobbit'. I have also managed to find 11 (non-Tolkien) Icelandic poems from the same collection. That is a total of 16 out of 30. Has anyone got any idea were one might find the rest of the poems, including those written by Tolkien?

Apart from the question, I though this topic would be a good idea to expand and give our own thoughts about the book, hopefully shedding some light on Tolkien's rarest book.
cirdaneth
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Post RE: 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 11, 2009 09:56
Thanks Ilandir! This is just what we need.

This forum is for all books by Tolkien ... in fact anything he wrote or spoke including his letters, notes, interviews, translations, and collaborations with other authors; and of course, his art. Comments from books about Tolkien are also welcome where they are relevant to his own output.

I'm looking forward to the discussion.
PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post RE: 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 12, 2009 06:02
Yes, it's extremely rare, and yes, Tolkien wrote a bunch of the songs, but; it's really just a bunch of song parodies, similar to those done by Wierd Al. The only value is in the fact that JRRT wrote 13 of them.
I'm sure that many of us, back in our student days, did similar things.

I often joke that if you could find a sheet of paper used by Picasso to clean his brushes, it would be worth a fortune. Is the same happening for JRRT? Is there any intrinsic value to a short booklet of college student parodies?

I don't recall ever seeing the poems, except for The Root of the Boot, which was reprinted in other works, printed anywhere. Printing them would probably be a copyright violation.

[Edited on 12/10/2009 by PotbellyHairyfoot]
Ilandir
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Post RE: 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 12, 2009 07:45
Thanks cirdaneth.

PbHf, personally for me, it doesn't matter whether they are just simple songs, the fact remains that it's something Tolkien contributed to - whether professionally or just for fun doesn't make a difference I think.

After all, something Tolkien (whatever it is) is something good ...
cirdaneth
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Post RE: 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 12, 2009 08:15
I agree with Ilandir. (Sorry PB)
Ilandir
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Post RE: 'Songs for the Philologists'
on: October 15, 2009 08:30
Ok, so these are the links I know which give a good source of information on the book. Anyone who knows of some others please post here. Thanks.

Article on the book

Other Articles:
Review
Example




[Edited on 12/29/2018 by tarcolan]
cirdaneth
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Post Re:
on: May 06, 2012 01:41
*bump
Ilandir
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Post Re:
on: May 10, 2012 12:56
Ah yes! This good old thread ... thanks for the bump cirdaneth!

Can't believe it's already been over two and a half years since I posted this and I'm still looking for more information on the rest of the poems!
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