From 1920 to 1943, J.R.R. Tolkien's children (John, Michael, Christopher, Priscilla) received every year a letter “from Father Christmas”, arriving straight from the North Pole.

This correspondence would describe his colourful adventures (often involving fireworks!), those of the elves and the gnomes, the polar bears and the goblins... the letters would also refer to the children's daily life, and world events.

Their father went so far as to make the envelopes, and draw the North Pole stamps; and the children would find these letters in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning, always accompanied by magnificent illustrations, from which we have drawn a selection for this gallery.

These letters and illustrations were gathered after the author's death in The Father Christmas Letters, edited by Baillie Tolkien (see also her article on this book), and published by George Allen & Unwin in 1976 — the first posthumous work by the author! A complete version entitled Letters from Father Christmas was published by HarperCollinsPublishers in 2004, in which you will find the entire collection of these letters, and the illustrations.