Black and White Ogre Country: Into the Archive

 

Black and White Ogre Country: The Lost Tales of Hilary Tolkien. Edited by Angela Gardner, Illustrated by Jef Murray.

This slim little book arrived today, and I read it right away. This was not difficult. It is only about 80 pages long, and many (perhaps as much as half) are the illustrations by Jef Murray. And there are pages of acknowledgement, introduction, a glossary, and a brief biography of Hilary. But there is still a rich, chewy center written by the younger of the Tolkien brothers himself.

Hilary Tolkien did not follow the scholarly path ‘Ronald’ took; instead, he devoted his life to market gardening and a fruit orchard. He married and had three sons. When he sat down to write his memoirs after WWII, his stories took on a rather lighthearted fairy-tale tone, as if they were written for his children or grandchildren. The ‘Black and White Ogres’ were the local miller and his son, the ‘Black Witch’ a rather anecdotal presence living in the old mill, and the ‘White Witch’ a very real person running a sweet shop. Even his time in WWI is retold in a joking manner as if edited for the young’uns. Hilary died in 1976, three years after his older brother.

Most interesting for the scholar of JRRT is the glimpse we are given into the shared background of their earliest years. Throughout their lives the brothers kept up a correspondence, and Hilary’s farm became the hub of family gatherings from both the Tolkien and Suffield sides of the family.  This little book was supposed to be the ‘first chapter’ in a much longer biography, arranged by his grandson Chris (not Christopher), but that project was cancelled in 2010, due to a legal dispute with the Tolkien Estate. Only 20 publisher proofs were ever made. It is said to contain letters between their parents Arthur and Mabel, letters between the brothers and their wives, and previously unseen photos.

The photos that are included in this little book are intriguing. The one of Hilary and Ronald as quite small boys shows JRRT holding a rather ‘elvish’ doll with a peaked, Phrygian type hat. Another, a color photo showing them in later years, emphasizes their close resemblance; I had to look carefully and check the caption before I could be sure who was who.

Angela Gardner is a member of the British Tolkien Society and bookstore owner. Jef Murray (d. 2015) had supplied illustrations for several professional Tolkien journals over the years. Black and White Ogre Country was published by the ADC Publications Ltd., Moreton-in-Marsh Great Britain.