Creator
J.R.R. Tolkien
Title
Letter to Robert W. Burchfield
Date
11 June 1972.
Subject
ALS.
Description
Born in New Zealand in 1923, Burchfield came to Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He became editor of the Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1957. He later wrote several popular books, including The English Language (1985) and Unlocking the English Language (1989). Burchfield corresponded regularly with lexicographic allies, including J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis: the Garner Collection has a small archive of their letters. This letter from Tolkien was received the same year as the first volume of Burchfield’s Supplement appeared. The book mentioned was Wallenberg’s Kentish Place-Names (1931).
Source
Ex coll. Karolyne & Bryan A. Garner. HHD pp. 305, 348–49