Mr. Bliss

[The Lady of Ithilien]

(Er, I hope this is the right forum for a discussion of JRRT's Mr. Bliss. It doesn't seem to fit into any of the other forums, and there is a drawing of Ham Gamgee in it as well as a young Sam (though his last name in this book is Dobbins) and the pictures of the forest on pages 27 and 28 remind of me of what Lothlorien at night must have looked like to Boromir, though he didn't wish out loud for "lots and lots of policemen," as he was grown up Please move, if not appropriate.)

Anyway, has anybody else read this? I bought it in the early 1980s when it came out, but was so intoxicated by The Lord of the Rings, I really couldn't appreciate it then. I rediscovered it a few months ago and just love it -- the combination of calligraphy and watercolors, as well as the story...not to mention the Girabbit.

[azalea]

I think that generally the place for Tolkien's "other" works is the ME forum, so I'm going to move this there. And I have not read that, but it sounds interesting!

[Lady of Rohan]

Waht is Mr. Bliss about?

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Thanks, Azalea!

Lady of Rohan, it's a children's story that JRRT did in calligraphy with pictures (watercolors, I think). I don't know too much about its history, but it is said in the first pages that the manuscript is owned (or was in 1983, anyway) by Marquette University in Milwaukee in their Department of Special Collections and University Archives. The book contains both images of the original MS and a typeset version of the printed story, which is good because JRRT was not perfectly clear throughout.

Mr. Bliss is a curious man who lives in a curious house (that, like the hall at Bag End, has many pegs on the wall of the front hall) and owns a girabbit, which is indeed a cross between a rabbit and a giraffe -- you'd have to see the picture. Mr. Bliss decides to buy a car and has all sorts of misadventures during his first drive, running into people and afterwards loading them into his car, and eventually running into the wall at the Dorkinses and spilling everybody onto their picnic. Three bears eventually get involved, and owing to a misunderstanding with the automobile dealer, the town policeman; the Girabbit gets into the house and pokes his head out the chimney; the Dorkinses sent Mr. Bliss a bill after he's already paid for all the damages, so he sends one in return; and various other delightful things happen all along the way, including a walk through a scary forest at night.

As mentioned, I bought it in '83 or '84 when it first came out. Is it even available now?

I wonder, assuming it meets the 10,000 byte requirement, if it would be all right in terms of copyright to scan one of the pages, perhaps the title page, and post it here? Am not sure of the legalities of such things.

[Laurus Nobilis]

It *is* available. I've seen it in Spanish here (Argentina), so I guess it must be still available in English.

It's still on my To Read list for now, though.

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Do read it, if you get a chance. You'll love it. Perhaps a good time would be when you're restless and a little unsatisfied with the world, but don't know what you want (at least that was a good time for me to read it ): the lightheartedness of it all, not to mention the watercolor illustrations throughout, will be a delightful escape and surprise. (Watch out for the Girabbit, though. He tends to pop up unexpectedly.)