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Handwritten letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Sir Henry Willink marked 'confidential' about the offer to C.S. Lewis of the chair of Medieval and Renaissance English.

Thanks him for his hospitality and kindness. He should have written before but wanted to have a chance to talk to C.S. Lewis first.

Although it would be Oxford's loss he wanted to urge the case for Cambridge as Lewis was the precise man for the job and he would probably be happy there and be reinvigorated by a change of air. Oxford had not treated him very well, and although he was incapable of dudgeon or showing resentment he had been a little dispirited.

After their talk Lewis said he would accept. The chief obstacle had been domestic. As long as he could be assured he could have rooms to live in during term time that could house a lot of his books he would accept. Unlike in Oxford 'chairs' were not attached to Colleges but he hoped there would be no difficulty in an offer being made. Magdalene held enormous attraction for him.

He would be relieved if this came off as the more he reflected the more he felt certain in his one obdurate vote.

Letter from C.S. Lewis to Sir Henry Willink about the offer to take the chair of Medieval and Renaissance English.

Writes to Sir Henry in his capacity as Vice-Chancellor of the University [he was also Master of Magdalene College].

Apologises for writing again and in a way that may make him seem rather ridiculous. Since his last letter he had spoken to Tolkien who had considerably changed his view. Firstly he has told him that the electors would not elect a philologist. This was very important as it set him free. Secondly full residency in Cambridge was not necessary and four days a week in term time would be fine. Tolkien's lively mind leads him (with perfectly innocent intentions) to overstate things but was his view correct? It would remove his difficulty as he could leave his household intact and have rooms in Cambridge. He wouldn't mind working and sleeping on the train but he had no right to assume these conditions as they seemed too good to be true but if they were real he would like nothing better.

He felt a fool for saying all this. His thoughts were already thinking about what he would do if he accepted and had already started composing imaginary lectures.