Imagine sitting and writing at the desk where J.R.R. Tolkien worked on The Lord of the Rings.
Someone will soon have the opportunity to do just that because the storied desk will soon be up for auction at Christie’s. Perhaps the new owner will consider the mid-Victorian roll-top too precious to use and will keep it as a shrine to the author.
The desk was used by Tolkien from 1945-1959 when he was a professor of English language and literature at Merton College, University of Oxford, and later at his residence on Sandfield Road in Headington, Oxford. It is thought to be the desk he used while working on the final revisions for his epic fantasy. Photos of Tolkien sitting at the desk were taken by photographer Haywood Magee in 1955, shortly after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
Thais Hitchins, Junior Specialist at Christie’s, called the desk “one of the most important artifacts of Tolkien’s career that is ever likely to be offered for sale.” She said the desk “occupies a pivotal position in Tolkien’s career as the site of his final touches to his masterwork: it connects the imaginative world of the early drafts with the formal apparatus of publication [of The Lord of the Rings] — proofs, galleys, correspondence, etc.”
This desk is one of only two that are known to have belonged to Tolkien, and it is the last remaining one that is privately owned. It will be featured in Christie’s “Groundbreakers: Icons Of Our Time” auction on December 11.
Perhaps it will become the inspiration for another great novel. Though of course, none will ever match the tale of Bilbo and Frodo that we all hold dear.
