Mildly off-topic, but since I haven't heard back from Lisa (and she might just

be busy; I only sent my initial inquiry on Friday) I thought I would try here.







In Lisa's article on this page

(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9902/runegond.html), she displays

charts of the Runes of Gondolin, but it is unclear from the accompanying text

whether these pages were something she or perhaps Doug Nolan transcribed or if

this is an actual facsimile of Tolkien's original hand written page. Anyone have

any idea? Thanks in advance for any help you all might be able to render.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I haven't seen Lisa Star around for years now, and even years ago when

I tried a number of different email addresses she's used some months

apart, I never received a reply. I have heard a similar tale from some

others - I am not sure whether she has simply left the Arkastarin

venue, but it does not surprise me to hear she did not respond to your

email either. It would be nice to be proven wrong, though!



Now, moving onto the topic of the Gondolinic Runes: the page given on

the site you linked to is not a facsimile of Tolkien's original page,

but rather something Lisa Star herself transcribed into a more

calligraphic form. Compare how she wrote out herself the examples for

the tengwar numerals rather than reproduce what was given in Quettar.



The original facsimile of the G. runes by Tolkien, _and_ a script

version of them which she doesn't represent or mention, can be found

in the section entitled 'Early Runic Documents' in issue #15 of the

journal 'Parma Eldalamberon'. Apparently the runic facsimile (but not

the script) is also found and analyzed / commented upon in Mythlore

#69-70, but as I do not have those Mythlore issues I cannot compare.



--- In elfling@yahoogroups.com, "Charles Gadda" <cagadda@...> wrote:

>

> Mildly off-topic, but since I haven't heard back from Lisa (and she

might just be busy; I only sent my initial inquiry on Friday) I

thought I would try here.

>

> In Lisa's article on this page

(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9902/runegond.html), she

displays charts of the Runes of Gondolin, but it is unclear from the

accompanying text whether these pages were something she or perhaps

Doug Nolan transcribed or if this is an actual facsimile of Tolkien's

original hand written page. Anyone have any idea? Thanks in advance

for any help you all might be able to render.

>

> In Lisa's article on this page ([...]), she displays charts of the

> Runes of Gondolin, but it is unclear from the accompanying

> text whether these pages were something she or perhaps

> Doug Nolan transcribed or if this is an actual facsimile of

> Tolkien's original hand written page. Anyone have any idea?

I do not know for a positive fact; however, I would say it's pretty unlikely

this is an actual facsimile. First of all, from what I know of Tolkien's

handwriting, this specimen does not look like it to me (though I've been wrong

once or twice). Second, the quality of the paper and ink look much too

well-preserved to me to be original. Third, the illustration at the bottom of

the second page doesn't look like it was made by Tolkien. My guess is it's a

copy/transcription.

Just my two cents. Anyone else?

Jason

Jason/Matthew:



Thanks for the replies. I was particularly interested in that little drawing of

Glamdring. I had hoped it was Tolkien's own work (or at least directly copied

from it) but that does not appear to be the case. In an early Vinyar Tengwar Tom

Loback did a very similar looking sword (in this case Aranruth) - I had hoped

Tom's sword was a copy of an original Tolkienian squiggle, but it looks like

that's not the case.



Too bad.



As for Lisa's site, I noticed that most of the articles had not been updated in

several years, though curiously the main site indicated that it had been updated

back in March of this year. I hope all is well.



   ----- Original Message -----

   From: Jason Fisher

   To: elfling@yahoogroups.com

   Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 6:51 AM

   Subject: [elfling] Re: Regarding Lisa Star's Gondolinic Runes charts





   > In Lisa's article on this page ([...]), she displays charts of the

   > Runes of Gondolin, but it is unclear from the accompanying

   > text whether these pages were something she or perhaps

   > Doug Nolan transcribed or if this is an actual facsimile of

   > Tolkien's original hand written page. Anyone have any idea?

   I do not know for a positive fact; however, I would say it's pretty unlikely

this is an actual facsimile. First of all, from what I know of Tolkien's

handwriting, this specimen does not look like it to me (though I've been wrong

once or twice). Second, the quality of the paper and ink look much too

well-preserved to me to be original. Third, the illustration at the bottom of

the second page doesn't look like it was made by Tolkien. My guess is it's a

copy/transcription.

   Just my two cents. Anyone else?

   Jason









[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]