Chapter 7, Publisher Drama Summary and Analysis

The editors have included an incredibly important and relevant note about the relationship between JRR Tolkien and the publishers Collins, Allen & Unwin. In 1952, Tolkien was disturbed by how long it was taking Collins to publish The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Simarillion. Unfortunately, when he pushed the issue, they declined rather than moving ahead and publishing them. Around the same time, and quite fortunately for him, Rayner Unwin - another publishing company representative wrote asking Tolkien about one of his poems. The same fellow also made a rather casual inquiry about the novels. The author shows great gratitude regarding the interest shown in the poem. He goes on about its surprisingly lengthy history a bit and then reports of how he created a metre especially for this poem. Following this is a confession that he...