Posted by Wayne Hammond on June 13, 2006 at 04:18:08 from 199.232.231.15 user whammond.
In Reply to: Re: question about Ransome and The Hobbit posted by Lyn on June 09, 2006 at 17:37:28:
As far as I know, there isn't any source of confirmation. I've been through all of the Ransome and Tolkien parts of the George Allen & Unwin archive at the University of Reading, and have read every Tolkien-related letter my wife and I have been able to lay our hands on, including his correspondence with Allen & Unwin, and nowhere is there a mention of Allen & Unwin sending _The Hobbit_ to Ransome. Which is not to say that they didn't -- AR was an Allen & Unwin-published author himself, and one of their occasional readers of books under consideration -- only that there's no evidence of it that I'm aware of. He certainly wasn't sent _The Hobbit_ as an advance reader; that process is well documented in the Allen & Unwin files. And we know of nothing that indicates that he was sent a copy for review or later comment.
He was, however, sent an advance copy of _The Lord of the Rings_! and is reported in the Allen & Unwin correspondence to have read it with enthusiasm.