Lord Of The Rings author's writing desk up for auction
PAA desk used by Lord Of The Rings author JRR Tolkien is set to be auctioned in London with a guide price of £50,000 to £80,000.
The author used the mid-Victorian roll-top mahogany and satinwood desk during his tenure as Merton professor of English language and literature at Oxford university between 1945 and 1959.
During this time he worked on the correspondence and proofing of The Lord Of The Rings, and experts say the desk was likely to have been used during the final stages of its revision.
Thais Hitchins, a junior specialist at Christie's, called it "one of the most important artefacts of Tolkien's career" and the only of his desks still in private hands.
The desk later moved with Tolkien to Headington, Oxford, and was then passed to novelist Dame Iris Murdoch.
Ms Hitchins said: "This mid-Victorian roll-top desk, owned and used by JRR Tolkien, is an extraordinary material witness to the author's most productive and creative literary period.
"Situated in his study at Merton College, Oxford, and later at his residence at Sandfield Road, it was one of Tolkien's primary work stations during a period in which the author added the important final touches to his magnum opus, The Lord Of The Rings, and researched and drafted some of his most significant academic works, such as his linguistic study of Middle English, Ancrene Wisse."
The Lord of the Rings has been translated into more than 50 languages and has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.
Tolkien's desk will be offered at Christie's on 11 December as part of its Groundbreakers: Icons Of Our Time auction.
Also going under the hammer are:
- The only known annotated proof of Harry Beck's London Underground map - £70,000 to £100,000
- The original Harry the Hammer cover artwork for the first edition of Warhammer - £300,000 to £400,000
- Dye-transfer prints used to create the Eagles' Hotel California album art -£40,000 to £60,000
You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
