letter is accompanied by three pictures: one, roughly drawn (with an apology that Father Christmas had no time to do a proper picture), depicts both the firework explosion and Father Christmas and Polar Bear in the kitchen; a second, inscribed ‘My latest portrait’, shows Father Christmas packing parcels, with a pencil sketch of Father Christmas in his sleigh on the verso; and the third, attributed to the North Polar Bear, is both a self-portrait and a stylized landscape of the sun rising or setting behind mountains.
?1932–1938 Tolkien and E.V. Gordon (but primarily Gordon) work to produce editions of the poems The Wanderer and The Seafarer for the series Methuen’s Old English Library, intended as joint efforts. By 1933, and at least as late as 1937, these will be advertised as forthcoming, The Wanderer to be edited by Tolkien and Gordon and The Seafarer by Gordon and Tolkien, the order of names perhaps indicating the intended senior editor for each. Tolkien’s other commitments, however, leave him time chiefly to advise and consult, and despite Gordon’s industriousness the editions will be unfinished when he dies in 1938.
?1932 or 1933 Tolkien writes a poem, Looney (later revised as *The Sea-Bell).
1932 Tolkien buys his first car, a Morris Cowley which the family nicknames ‘Jo’ after the first letters of its registration. Soon after acquiring it, Tolkien and his family visit his brother Hilary in Evesham. The car has two punctures on the way and an encounter with a stone wall near Chipping Norton. It will give the family more freedom to explore the countryside around Oxford (see *Oxford and environs).
2 January 1932 R.E.M. Wheeler asks Tolkien to return the proof of his note, as the publisher is pressing for it. But Tolkien evidently has already done so, as Wheeler writes another letter on the same day, thanking him for the proof. Probably in response to a statement by Tolkien that he intends to continue his inquiries into the name Nodens, Wheeler says that he would like to see the results when ready.
13 January 1932 Tolkien and C.L. Wrenn examine A.M. Trounce of St Catherine’s Society viva voce on his B.Litt. thesis, An Edition of the Middle English Romance of ‘Athelstan’ with Historical, Literary and Linguistic Introduction, Notes and a Glossary, at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools.
17 January 1932 Hilary Full Term begins. Tolkien’s scheduled lectures for this term are: Beowulf (continued) on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 19 January; Atlakviða and Baldrs Draumar on Thursdays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 21 January; The Language of the Vespasian Psalter Glosses on Tuesdays at 12.00 noon in the Taylor Institution, beginning 19 January; and Problems of Old English Philology on Fridays at 12.00 noon in the Taylor Institution, beginning 22 January.
20 January 1932 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.
21 January 1932 Tolkien and Wrenn sign their report (written by Tolkien) on the examination of A.M. Trounce.
28 January 1932 Tolkien chairs an English Faculty Library Committee meeting at 2.15 p.m. in the Library. He, C.L. Wrenn, and the Assistant Librarian, J.L.N. O’Loughlin, by now have completely reorganized the philological part of the Library’s collections.
29 January 1932 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.
5 February 1932 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. The Applications Committee has appointed Tolkien supervisor of *S.R.T.O. (Simonne) d’Ardenne of the Society of Oxford Home-Students, a probationer B.Litt. student who wants to work on a Middle English subject.
15 February 1932 Tolkien attends the inaugural meeting of the Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature (successor to the Arthurian Society; *Societies and clubs) at 5.30 p.m. in the Taylor Institution. He becomes one of five ordinary members on the first Executive Committee, to serve a two-year term (but apparently serves until 1936). Also on the committee are Eugène Vinaver and *Dorothy Everett. C.T. Onions is appointed editor of the Society journal, Medium Ævum.
26 February 1932 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.
3 March 1932 Tolkien chairs an English Faculty Library Committee meeting at 2.15 p.m. in the Library.
4 March 1932 Tolkien certifies that E.O.G. Turville-Petre has pursued a course of study preparatory to research, and recommends him as a B.Litt. student. His thesis is to be An Edition of Víga-Glúms Saga from the Manuscripts, with Introduction and Notes.
11 March 1932 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. The Applications Committee has appointed Tolkien supervisor of E.O.G. Turville-Petre. – Tolkien attends a General Board meeting. – He also attends a Pembroke College meeting.
12 March 1932 Hilary Full Term ends.
8 April 1932 C.S. Lewis recommends to his brother that one day, Warren must read Tolkien’s translation of the Middle English Owl and the Nightingale. Presumably by this date Tolkien has in hand a complete translation, though he will never make it ready for publication.
24 April 1932 Trinity Full Term begins. Tolkien’s scheduled lectures for this term are: Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode (Textual Study and Reconstruction) on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 26 April; Deor’s Lament and Waldere on Tuesdays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 26 April; and Völundarkviða on Thursdays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 28 April.
27 April 1932 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.
May 1932 Extracts from a letter by Tolkien to the magazine The British Esperantist are published in the number for May 1932, as A Philologist on Esperanto. By now he has become a member of the Board of Honorary Advisors of the British Esperanto Association’s Education Committee. – The May 1932 number of the journal Medium Ævum notes that an article by Tolkien about the phrase ‘Sigelwara Land’ (Old English Sigelhearwan) is among those ‘in hand or … promised for publication’ (see *Sigelwara Land).
5 May 1932 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Library Committee meeting at 2.15 p.m. in the Library.
6 May 1932 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.
13 May 1932 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. Proposals for the remuneration of examiners are considered. David Nichol Smith and Tolkien are authorized to draw up the Board’s observations for submission to the General Board. The Applications Committee has appointed Tolkien and C.L. Wrenn examiners of the D.Phil. thesis of D.J. Rogers of Jesus College, The Syntax of Cursor Mundi.
20 May 1932 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.
24 May 1932 R.W. Chambers sends Tolkien an inscribed copy of the second edition of his Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem, published this month.
27 May 1932 Tolkien writes a letter of recommendation for his B.Litt. student A.F. Colborn.
3 June 1932 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.
9 June 1932 English Final Honour School Examinations begin. Tolkien is an examiner.
?June 1932–June 1933 Tolkien writes the first version of a poem, *Mythopoeia, rejecting the notion that myth and fairy-story are lies, and declaring that Man creates in imitation of the Creator. He will write at least seven versions. At the end of the final manuscript he will later inscribe: ‘Written mainly in the Examination Schools during Invigilation’, i.e. while acting as an examiner.
17 June 1932 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board