Tolkien's belief in book renewed

From the archive, first published Friday 3rd Mar 2006.

THE story of how a visit to Malvern might have saved The Lord of the Rings was related in the Malvern Gazette 25 years ago.

The story told how in August 1952, J R R Tolkien paid a visit to an old friend who lived in the town.

"Depressed by the refusal of publishers to print the book on which he had spent 14 years, Tolkien stayed with George Sayer, who taught at Malvern College for many years.

"By day, they tramped the Hills and Tolkien compared them with his own creation, the White Mountains of Gondor.

"At night, to entertain him, Mr Sayer brought out a tape recorder, for Tolkien had never seen one before. He was fascinated and asked if he might record some of the poems in The Lord of the Rings to find out how they sound to other people.

"He recorded several long passages and, when he heard them played back, his confidence in the work returned."

Mr Sayer also did Tolkien another favour by recommending that he approach the publisher Rayner Unwin.

Unwin took the book and by the time Tolkien died in 1973, it had sold three million copies. It has, of course, sold many times that number since.

Mr Sayer survived his old friend by many years, dying just last year. He also wrote a well-received biography of their mutual friend, C S Lewis, author of the Narnia books and much else.

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