On 18 December 1965, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to Clyde S. Kilby.
- Subject: Tolkien accepts Kilby's suggestion to help him work on The Silmarillion manuscripts.
- Publication: Most of the letter was published in Tolkien and the Silmarillion (pp. 16–18) by Kilby himself. Excerpts were published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (as letter 282) and The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Chronology (pp. 649–50). Shorter quotes are included in Kilby's article "Woodland Prisoner", published in SEVEN, Volume 27 (p. 49).
Extract
I was deeply touched by [your letter], indeed overwhelmed by your generosity in offering to sacrifice your precious time (and holiday) in helping me. … [Y]our offer under heads 2) and 3) are extremely attractive. … If I had the assistance of a scholar at once sympathetic and yet critical, such as yourself, I feel I might make some of it publishable. It needs the actual presence of a friend and adviser at one’s side, which is just what you offer.