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The Book of Ishness

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The Book of Ishness was a sketchbook, begun by J.R.R. Tolkien on 6 January 1914, where he collected illustrations devoted to "imaginative subjects".[1]

John D. Rateliff has suggested that Tolkien's creation of the word ishness might have been inspired by a passage in chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "did you ever see a thing as a drawing of a muchness!".[2]

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References

  1. ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 49
  2. ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 65 (note 13)
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