Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Still picking away ...
The vertical letters between the WE and the haystack in the second letter I think might be the initials of the people that "we" refers to ...
A
+
C
H
and that might be an S scrunched between the C and the H.
C might be Christopher Wiseman (best friend) and H might be Hilary(brother). Can't make out who the A would be, or the S if that is an S.
Do we have a date on the second letter? The first one is 1904 which was the last summer that Tolkien's Mum was alive, and his bio says that they spent the summer with Fr. Francis.
Jn
The vertical letters between the WE and the haystack in the second letter I think might be the initials of the people that "we" refers to ...
A
+
C
H
and that might be an S scrunched between the C and the H.
C might be Christopher Wiseman (best friend) and H might be Hilary(brother). Can't make out who the A would be, or the S if that is an S.
Do we have a date on the second letter? The first one is 1904 which was the last summer that Tolkien's Mum was alive, and his bio says that they spent the summer with Fr. Francis.
Jn
A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
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Jny, that's a great thought!
I had always assumed that both letters were written in the same summer - maybe there are/were even more.
It's such a pity that none of our members here (at least people interested in this thread) lives near Oxford (AFAIK) and could try to have a look at page 2 of the first letter!
Hi Roccondil, great to see you here!
I had always assumed that both letters were written in the same summer - maybe there are/were even more.
It's such a pity that none of our members here (at least people interested in this thread) lives near Oxford (AFAIK) and could try to have a look at page 2 of the first letter!
Hi Roccondil, great to see you here!
Yes, the exclamation mark is a bit irritating, but I think it can be taken as an additional stress, rather than the end of the sentence.The remaining two sentences, which read
“We each have found two lovely walks to take you when you do! Come out here which we hope will be soon.”
Only make complete sense to me if the order of the sentences is reversed. That is
“Come out here which we hope will be soon. We each have found two lovely walks to take you when you do!”
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
The only problem I have with reversing the order of the sentences is that the "which" no longer really fits.
Looking at the other S's in the second letter, I don't think that is an S in the group of initials after all. Can anyone figure out the small flourish to the left of the C and H in that group of initials? Is it perhaps a way of making a third letter out of the other two? - as he did with his own initials much later to make the elvish-style symbol of his name. E.g. the flourish to the left of the C almost makes it look like a K with an overlong left stem.
Jn
Looking at the other S's in the second letter, I don't think that is an S in the group of initials after all. Can anyone figure out the small flourish to the left of the C and H in that group of initials? Is it perhaps a way of making a third letter out of the other two? - as he did with his own initials much later to make the elvish-style symbol of his name. E.g. the flourish to the left of the C almost makes it look like a K with an overlong left stem.
Jn
A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
Perhaps Roccondil should admit at this point that he does indeed live very close to Oxford.truehobbit wrote:Jny, that's a great thought!
I had always assumed that both letters were written in the same summer - maybe there are/were even more.
It's such a pity that none of our members here (at least people interested in this thread) lives near Oxford (AFAIK) and could try to have a look at page 2 of the first letter!
Hi Roccondil, great to see you here!
So I'll see what I can do.
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You do? Cool!Roccondil wrote: Perhaps Roccondil should admit at this point that he does indeed live very close to Oxford.
So I'll see what I can do.
So - why haven't we seen you at a moot yet?
It's mandatory for all British TORCers to come to the UK-moots, didn't you know that?
Seriously, it would be great if you could ask the Bodleian whether they'd let you look at the manuscript - and I think it's safe to say we'll all envy you if they do!
And I know you haven't been on TORC for long, so you've probably never thought of meeting up with people, but it would also be great to see you at the next UK-moot!
(We don't bite - much. )
Jny, I thought the supposed sign you mean was a blot of ink! Hmmh, not sure - we'll have to look at who was around at the time.
Cool idea - I have the scanner, I'd probably lack the wit, though!We're running out of puzzle here. Perhaps we should make our own pictorial letters for one another in this thread. I guess one would need a scanner to upload them
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
I messed around all day and created a pictorial letter for all of you, while we're waiting for Roccondil to jog to Oxford on our behalf.
That was supposed to be my motivation for finally getting my scanner hooked up! Hopefully I'll get to that tonight and put up the letter tonight or tomorrow morning.
It's only two sentences long, but it took up a whole page doing it in pictures like that! Also, myself being no artist and having no photoshop or such, everything is clip art or lifted from the web.
Jn
That was supposed to be my motivation for finally getting my scanner hooked up! Hopefully I'll get to that tonight and put up the letter tonight or tomorrow morning.
It's only two sentences long, but it took up a whole page doing it in pictures like that! Also, myself being no artist and having no photoshop or such, everything is clip art or lifted from the web.
Jn
A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
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As you say, I only joined last April, when I realised I could use the internet for something other than work-related research (and buying stuff from Amazon).truehobbit wrote:
So - why haven't we seen you at a moot yet?
Just to update you all on the Bodleian. Firstly, I should say, having seen this on a UK website..
.. We should perhaps not get our hopes up too high.The Bodleian library is in possession of some of Tolkien's original manuscripts which are, unfortunately, not accessible to the general public.
However, I have emailed what I think is the correct address within the Bodleian with a suitably polite request and we shall see what transpires. I have offered to present myself in person and complete the eight page application to become a non-university reader at the library, if necessary.
I'll follow up with a phone call in a couple of days if I get no reply.
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Alatar, that's what Prim told me to do in the business forum. We've got a technical thread there so I stretched it's definition and asked there why my printer isn't working.
I've got to run to the bookstore now, but I'll try the screen cap later this afternoon. Thanks! If two people suggest it, it must work some of the time at least.
Jn
I've got to run to the bookstore now, but I'll try the screen cap later this afternoon. Thanks! If two people suggest it, it must work some of the time at least.
Jn
A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
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Wow, that looks awesome, Jny!
How did you do it? Is it an apple paint-program or so?
It's so cool - how long did it take you to come up with the encryption?
I think I can read a bit of it, just can't name some of the pics.
I can't decipher the heading, but the first sentence begins:
The pictures must point to the word; so if...had been locked...
It must be the name of the bird, not just "seagull", but I don't know what they are called.
Wonder what might have been locked, though.
Roccondil, I wouldn't be surprised if the Tolkien Estate didn't want people they don't know to research Tolkien - but one can still hope!
Thanks so much for making the effort!
(
Hehe, I know what you mean! I didn't have a lot to do with the Internet before coming to TORC, either!
And I'd also been there for seven or eight months before I first started to think of meeting people in real life.
So, re moots, if you'd be interested to meet some people IRL, check out the Events forum on TORC! The next moot is being planned for early March in Leeds, but not much is certain yet - still, if you think you might want to attend, just post in the thread, everybody is welcome! )
How did you do it? Is it an apple paint-program or so?
It's so cool - how long did it take you to come up with the encryption?
I think I can read a bit of it, just can't name some of the pics.
I can't decipher the heading, but the first sentence begins:
The pictures must point to the word; so if...had been locked...
It must be the name of the bird, not just "seagull", but I don't know what they are called.
Wonder what might have been locked, though.
Roccondil, I wouldn't be surprised if the Tolkien Estate didn't want people they don't know to research Tolkien - but one can still hope!
Thanks so much for making the effort!
(
when I realised I could use the internet for something other than work-related research
Hehe, I know what you mean! I didn't have a lot to do with the Internet before coming to TORC, either!
And I'd also been there for seven or eight months before I first started to think of meeting people in real life.
So, re moots, if you'd be interested to meet some people IRL, check out the Events forum on TORC! The next moot is being planned for early March in Leeds, but not much is certain yet - still, if you think you might want to attend, just post in the thread, everybody is welcome! )
Last edited by truehobbit on Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
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Very good so far! Yes, the part in the red box at the top and in the blue box at the bottom is separate from the message.
Not all the details came out so well in the screen cap. The first picture inside the red box is a woman pouring coffee for a man ... it's very hard to see the coffee pot and cup in the picture.
There is one picture, I now see, that suggests more than one word ... the downside of unchangeable clip art ... but you should be able to figure it out from context.
Hobby, I just copied pictures onto a 'draw' page in Appleworks, either from the internet or from the clip art that came with my computer. Appleworks only allows me to resize, rotate and reverse pictures so I can't do anything fancy. Deciding how to encrypt the message took almost no time at all ... 15 minutes or so? Finding the pictures I wanted on the internet and then sizing and spacing them properly took a few hours! (How to waste a holiday afternoon)
The very last picture may be very hard to decipher because it came out so dark. If you all get everything right but that, I'll give you a clue.
Jn
edit: has evil idea It would be fun to do a series of quotes from Tolkien all done in pictorial code.
Not all the details came out so well in the screen cap. The first picture inside the red box is a woman pouring coffee for a man ... it's very hard to see the coffee pot and cup in the picture.
There is one picture, I now see, that suggests more than one word ... the downside of unchangeable clip art ... but you should be able to figure it out from context.
Hobby, I just copied pictures onto a 'draw' page in Appleworks, either from the internet or from the clip art that came with my computer. Appleworks only allows me to resize, rotate and reverse pictures so I can't do anything fancy. Deciding how to encrypt the message took almost no time at all ... 15 minutes or so? Finding the pictures I wanted on the internet and then sizing and spacing them properly took a few hours! (How to waste a holiday afternoon)
The very last picture may be very hard to decipher because it came out so dark. If you all get everything right but that, I'll give you a clue.
Jn
edit: has evil idea It would be fun to do a series of quotes from Tolkien all done in pictorial code.
A fool's paradise is a wise man's hell.
- truehobbit
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Roccondil, the bird is indeed a tern, I looked up a pic.
Hah! It is Peter - Peter Jackson!
I'm not sure how the Xes and the red dot make Jack, but it must be this pic + sun, I think.
(I was thinking, do we know a Peter in relation to Tolkien...?)
Edit:
...had been locked in a room (is it just a room or a specific room?) and forced (fort - t + C + E + D) to...
Hah! It is Peter - Peter Jackson!
I'm not sure how the Xes and the red dot make Jack, but it must be this pic + sun, I think.
(I was thinking, do we know a Peter in relation to Tolkien...?)
Edit:
...had been locked in a room (is it just a room or a specific room?) and forced (fort - t + C + E + D) to...
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.