Leila Keene and Pat Kirke 3 August 1943

Leila Keene and Pat Kirke 3 August 1943 is a letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to the schoolgirls Leila Keene and Pat Kirke (readers of The Hobbit), written on 3 August 1943.^[1]

• Subject: Tolkien discusses runes, the Common Speech, and the adoption by the Dwarves of Erebor of the language of the Men of Dale.^[2]
• Publication: The letter was first reproduced in Sotheby's Illustrated Books, Children's Books, Ephemera, Performing Arts & Related Drawings 4 May 1995.^[3] Christopher Tolkien included a description and excerpts from the letter in The Peoples of Middle-earth.^[2]

Excerpt

"... It was a sort of lingua-franca, made up of all sorts of languages, but the Elvish language (of the North West) for the most part. It was called the Western language or Common Speech; and in Bilbo's time had already passed eastward over the Misty Mountains and reached Lake Town, and Beorn, and even Smaug (dragons were ready linguists in all ages). ..."^[2]

References

1. ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 261
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "The Appendix on Languages", pp. 72-73
3. ↑ "Sotheby's 1995 catalogue?" , Tolkien Collector's Guide (accessed 08 July 2012)