Letter 42a

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 42a
Recipient	Christopher Tolkien
Date	26 January 1941
Subject(s)	Christopher's pocket money, Edith Tolkien's birthday

Letter 42a is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded edition.

Summary

Regarding Christopher's allowance while at school, Tolkien wrote that Christopher's "earned income" (the money he was paid for typing chapters of The Lord of the Rings) should be counted over and above "normal pocket money," so he would send another pound. Tolkien was "buried in work" (partly due to C.S. Lewis having lost a committee report Tolkien had prepared), so he would rely on Edith to send further news.

In a postscript, Tolkien chided Christopher for forgetting his mother's birthday, stating that women, unlike men, "set great store by dates and anniversaries," and that men can save trouble for themselves and avoid giving pain to others by remembering this.