Local charity, Dorothy House Hospice Care, has raised around £4,800 in proceeds from the auction of an original letter by author, JRR Tolkien at Bonhams, London on 27th March. The letter was generously donated to the Hospice by a local academic and Professor of Chemistry, Chick Wilson, who lectures at the University of Bath.

Previously unpublished, the letter, written in 1961, is unique, as it gives the first known confirmation that Tolkien had no plans to write a sequel to The Lord of The Rings. The sale or ‘hammer’ price of the letter went above its valuation of £2,000 – £3,000, and raised the equivalent funding for five (24 hour) days of nursing care for one patient bed on the hospice’s Inpatient Unit.

Last November, Professor Wilson was prompted to donate his treasured Tolkien letter following a Science-themed Bake Off organised by students in the Chemistry Department to raise money for Dorothy House. The winning cake featured ‘Bag End’ house from Tolkien’s famous books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The hospice has become the ‘adopted’ charity of the Chemistry Department, due to its support of staff members at the University who have been cared for by Dorothy House.

Professor Wilson received the framed letter over twenty years ago as a gift from a colleague at the University of Glasgow, called Professor Chris Gilmore. Mr Gilmore had received the original letter from JRR Tolkien in July 1961, in response to a fan letter he had written as a young boy. The donated letter contains a striking revelation from Tolkien who wrote: “I shall not write a sequel to The Lord of the Rings because, as is clearly stated in the course of the story, it is the end of the kind of world about which I write.”

Dorothy House provides compassionate and free, palliative and end-of-life care for people with a life-limiting illness from early diagnosis onwards. The Hospice cares for patients, their families and carers across 700 square miles, serving a population of 550,000 people in Bath & North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Providing hospice services requires significant funds and for every £1 received from the NHS, Dorothy House has to raise a further £4.

Yvonne Brunton, Community Fundraiser at Dorothy House Hospice Care, said: “We are so grateful to Professor Wilson and the Department of Chemistry students for all their fundraising for the Hospice. The donation of the Tolkien letter is the icing on the cake, as it has raised almost £5,000 to support vital patient care.

“If your family has an interesting antique or item of value to spare, please consider donating it to Dorothy House for us to auction. Every donation helps us deliver more palliative and end-of-life care in the community.”

Chick Wilson, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bath, said: “I’m thrilled the letter has raised such a significant sum and delighted that I was able to donate it to Dorothy House. Tolkien’s letter was too precious to hang on the wall, for fear it would fade, so inspired by the winning ‘Bag End’ cake in our bake sale, I decided it should go to someone who would appreciate it, while also raising funds to support our outstanding local Hospice.”