Tolkien vs. The Order of the Holy Paraclete?!?

I have a copy of “Bilbo’s Last Song” which is a short poem illustrated by Pauline Baynes. Checking the copyright info, I see that the copyright (1974) is held by The Order of the Holy Paraclete. What’s up with that? How did they get the copyright rather than the Tolkien family?

Perhaps the Tolkien family donated it to them.

Think of all the late night pub singalongs where it has been roared out since 1974. Even pennies per time would add up.

Robert E. Morse uses the term paraclete quite often in his book Bilbo’s Birthday and Frodo’s Adventure of Faith to describe both Gandalf and Tom Bombadil.

Damned if I know why, I just wanted to point that out.

I just searched my ecopies of JRRT’s major works, and don’t find the word “paraclete” used once. Sadly, I lack an ecopy of “Letters by JRRT”. :frowning:

I Googled the organization, and found its home page. It’s an Anglican nunnery. Didn’t see any mention of Tolkien, but I found this interesting tidbit:

I find it suspicious that they go out of their way to mention that their leader is not, in fact, an undead.

[sub]Yes, I know what they’re really saying.[/sub]

Looks like Tolkien gifted it to his secretary, Joy Hill. Perhaps she passed it on to that Order?

But…but…but Tolkien was CATHOLIC! REAL Catholic. If he gave those hateful heretics anything it would be because…because…because he simply wouldn’t do it, being Catholic and all, from back when that mattered.

Maybe the copyright is for the illustrations. Pauline Bayne also illustrated Narnia, and probably was Anglican.

The link i posted above has contact information, including an email.

You could just ask them.

Interesting. I immediately on reading the thread header thought of this somewhat controversial Catholic group ( I’ve seen their old facility in Jemez Springs, which is now basically a nunnery ). But not the same thing, apparently.

I have a copy of “Bilbo’s Last Song” also. I never noticed the copyright. Pretty interesting, I hope someone can answer the mystery.

C’mon, nobody? Someone here is expert enough about Tolkien to know his relationship with this particular group…speak up!

Again, you could just ask the group in question.

I just asked a couple of Tolkien scholars, and this is what they said:

> Tolkien gave the poem, and its copyright, to his friend and sometime secretary Joy
> Hill, and when Joy died in 1991, she bequeathed the copyright to the Order of the
> Holy Paraclete. We don’t know the circumstances, but this is definitely the case.
> Pauline Baynes’s art for Bilbo’s Last Song is separately copyrighted, and
> those rights are owned by the Williams College Oxford Programme, who received
> Pauline’s art copyrights along with her archive and library after her death in 2008
> (Collection Guides – Special Collections).