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 First edition | |
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Cover artist | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature Fantasy fiction |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | September[1] 1982 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Followed by | Finn and Hengest |
Mr. Bliss is a children'spicture book byJ. R. R. Tolkien, published posthumously in book form in 1982. One of Tolkien's least-known short works, it tells the story of Mr. Bliss and his first ride in his new motor-car. Many adventures follow: encounters with bears, angry neighbours, irate shopkeepers, and assorted collisions.
Mr. Bliss tells the story, in pictures and handwritten text, of Mr. Bliss and his first ride in his new motor-car. Many adventures follow: encounters with bears, angry neighbours, irate shopkeepers, and assorted collisions.
The story was inspired by Tolkien's own vehicular mishaps with his first car, purchased in 1932. The bears were based ontoy bears owned by Tolkien's sons. Tolkien was both author andillustrator of the book. His narrative binds the story and illustrations tightly together, as the text often comments directly on the pictures.
Several commentators have comparedMr. Bliss with the works ofBeatrix Potter andEdward Lear, and also toThe Wind in the Willows.[2]
Mr. Bliss was not published during Tolkien's lifetime. He submitted it to his publishers as a balm to readers who were hungry for more from him after the success ofThe Hobbit. The ink and coloured pencil illustrations would have made production costs prohibitively expensive. Tolkien agreed to redraw the pictures in a simpler style, but then found he didn't have time to do it. The manuscript lay in a drawer until 1957, when he sold it (as well as the original manuscripts ofThe Lord of the Rings,The Hobbit, andFarmer Giles of Ham) toMarquette University for £1,250. It was first published byGeorge Allen & Unwin in hardback in 1982. It had Tolkien's difficult-to-read handwritten story and illustrations on one page, and a typeset transcription on the facing page.
Alex Lewis, inMallorn, writes that Tolkien lamented the loss of the countryside in and aroundOxfordshire. Tolkien loved nature,especially trees, and had what Lewis calls "well-founded" fears for the environment, "verg[ing] on the prophetic".[3] Lewis analyses the factors that were causing this loss. They included the growth in Oxfordshire's population in the 20th century (doubling between 1920 and 1960); the area'sindustrialisation byMorris Motors, and the concomitant increase in motor traffic in the city of Oxford; the building of roads, including theM40 motorway cutting across the countryside; and thesuburbanisation of Oxford ascommuters started to use the railway to allow them to live in Oxford but work in London. TheSecond World War increased the number of airfields in the area from 5 to 96, causing the Oxfordshire countryside to be "gutted".[3] Tolkien found that it was "difficult [in 1949] to recapture the spirit of the former days, when we used to beat the bounds of the L[ittle] K[ingdom] [as inFarmer Giles of Ham] in an ancient car."[3] Tolkien was horrified by the change that motor traffic wreaked on Oxford, and the air pollution; he gave up his happy but dangerous driving, as depicted inMr. Bliss, at the start of the war.[3]
Tolkien used two names fromMr. Bliss for hobbits inThe Lord of the Rings: Gaffer Gamgee and Boffin.
