XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: jcb@inf.ed.ac.uk   
      
   On 2019-11-19, Bill O'Meally  wrote:   
   > But in the case of Letter #124, Tolkien is clearly differentiating   
   > between the meaning of 'I want' and 'I should like', stating that it   
   > would be wiser for him to say the latter. At this point in time, I   
   > think Tolkien is feeling somewhat emboldened by another publisher's   
   > offer to publish his two magna opera together, while feeling some   
   > frustration with Allen and Unwin for not doing this, all while possibly   
   > feeling a pang of guilt for seeking another publisher. Sir Stanley, I   
   > believe, does not yet know about a possible competitor.   
   >   
   > You alluded to the how Tolkien's language applies to this situation in   
   > your initial post. Why "wiser"? But could you translate into American   
   > English exactly what Tolkien was saying to Sir Stanley? :-)   
      
   My take is precisely that Tolkien is hinting at the existence of a   
   possible competitor.   
      
   Not sure I can do American, but a translation might be   
    "I had wanted to publish them together with you, but since you don't want   
    to publish them together, I no longer want to publish with you, and   
    am looking elsewhere".   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)