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arrangements for the delivery of the plaster bust to the Foundry, and the collection and transport of the finished bronze to the English Faculty library. Correspondence from Faith Tolkien to Michael Gaskin, son of the founder Charles, also accompanies the Tolkien letters. Written in the autumn of 1971, Faith writes regarding arrangements for a bust of Sir Michael Bernard Grenville Oppenheimer, 3rd Baronet (1924–2020). She was friends with the Oppenheimer family, who cared for her in Oxford while she convalesced from a car accident; she later made sculptures of all the family. Faith, the first wife of Christopher Tolkien, took an English degree at
Oxford and went on to study sculpture at the Oxford City Art School. She started her career as a portrait sculptor, developing as a sculptor of religious imagery, largely for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham. Commissioned busts include Robert Maxwell, Iris Murdoch, and Sir Richard Doll. A limited edition of 12 copies in bronze was issued by the Foundry after Tolkien’s death in 1973, for which the sale brochure is present. Tolkien had raised the idea for this project some years previously, and again in the year prior to his death. In a letter to Jonathan Wordsworth of Merton College that noted that he has conceived the idea of selling the busts in order to
raise funds for the Faculty “while the tide of Tolkien adulation was still high and while the original was capable of satisfactory reproduction in that form” (26 September 1972). Together 11 items. 2 typed letters signed, 3 autograph letters signed, 1 autograph notecard on headed paper from 76 Sandfield Road, Headington; Foundry letter to Tolkien dated 25 August 1966; sale brochure for limited edition bronze copies; 3 postcards from Faith Tolkien to Michael Gaskin, from August to November 1971. Small hole punched to top left of each letter, a few traces of rust marks from staples. In excellent condition. £35,000 [155470]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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