After he was demobilised from the army in 1920, and before his professorship at Pembroke College Oxford when he famously wrote The Hobbit, he worked as reader in English at Leeds University.
During his time there he contributed towards publications by the Leeds University English School Association. The most notable work was a small book of member’s verses called A Northern Venture.
The book was printed in June 1923, with 170 copies made, which were followed by a second impression of 200 the following month, containing three original works by Tolkien.
Two of these, Why The Man In The Moon Came Down Too Soon and the riddle poem Enigmata Saxonica Nuper Inventa Duo, were published in revised form in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and the Annotated Hobbit respectively.
A copy of A Northern Venture is being offered at Tennants in its August 2 Books, Maps & Ephemera sale with an estimate of £3000-5000.
