Annual General Meeting of the Tolkien Society

Abstract

At a general meeting dinner for the Tolkien Society, many people important to the publication were in attendance – including Mr. Unwin, the CEO of the company that published The Lord of the Rings. He discussed the relationship with Mr. Tolkien’s works, which included letters, transcripts, and personal stories. He described Tolkien, who had recently died, as a man who lived simply and did not change his way of life, even when fame took over. Mr. Unwin was one of the first people to ever read the Hobbit – his father, who owned the publishing company before him, tested their children’s books on him as a child, to see if children would appreciate it. Originally, Mr. Unwin notes, that the Lord of the Rings was initially turned down, but he took a read of it to see how it was and loved it. They took an economic risk on Tolkien’s books and split them into 3 novels to have some sort of safeguard. Thus, they had to come up with new titles for these books. Unwin then goes on to discuss the Silmarillion, and how they are attempting to organize the literature Tolkien left behind. Austin Olney, one of Tolkien’s American publishers, stood up to speak. At first, the book did not sell well, until 15 years later when it sort of exploded and people everywhere began to read it. Through the rest of the night, there were several other smaller points made, ending with the cost of the Silmarillion – 4 pounds.