Letter 263

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 263
Recipient	Houghton Mifflin Co.
Date	September 10, 1964
Subject(s)	Tolkien’s criticism of a block picture for Tree and Leaf

Letter 263 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

Tolkien criticized the block on page iii of Tree and Leaf as very distasteful and asked that it be reconsidered or omitted. The lettering was ill-executed; and the fat, pollarded, unrooted, feeble-branched tree was nothing that Niggle could possibly have drawn. If Tolkien's views and sentiments in the story were respected then he wished a more sympathetic design could be produced.