Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien’s desk up for auction
By Ted Hennessey, Press Association
A desk used by Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien is set to be auctioned in London.
The author’s mid-Victorian roll-top mahogany and satinwood desk will be offered at Christie’s on December 11th with a guide price of £50,000 (€56,000) to £80,000 (€90,000).
Tolkien used the desk during his tenure as Merton professor of English language and literature at Oxford between 1945 and 1959.
In this period he worked on the correspondence and proofing of his classic fantasy The Lord Of The Rings, and experts say the desk was likely to have been used during the final stages of revision.
The desk later moved with him to Headington, Oxford, before it was passed to novelist Dame Iris Murdoch.
Thais Hitchins, a junior specialist at Christie’s said: “This mid-Victorian rolltop desk, owned and used by JRR Tolkien, is an extraordinary material witness to the author’s most productive and creative literary period.
“Situated in his study at Merton College, Oxford (1945-1959) and later at his residence at Sandfield Road, it was one of Tolkien’s primary work stations during a period in which the author added the important final touches to his magnum opus, The Lord Of The Rings, and researched and drafted some of his most significant academic works, such as his linguistic study of Middle English, Ancrene Wisse.
“As such, this piece constitutes one of the most important artefacts of Tolkien’s career and is the only desk belonging to Tolkien still in private hands.”
It will be sold as part of Christie’s Groundbreakers: Icons Of Our Time auction.
Other highlights include the only known annotated proof of Harry Beck’s London Underground map — estimated at £70,000–£100,000 — and the original Harry the Hammer cover artwork for the first edition of Warhammer, which has an estimate of £300,000–£400,000.
Also on offer are dye-transfer prints used to create the Eagles’ Hotel California album cover, back cover and gatefold, which has a guide price of £40,000–£60,000.
