Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

=== Youth ===
[[File:KES Free Grammar School Charles Barry.jpg|thumb|right|King Edward's School in Birmingham, where Tolkien was a pupil (1900–1902, 1903–1911)<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=24–51}}</ref>]]
[[File:J. R. R. Tolkien, 1911.jpg|thumb|Tolkien at age 19, 1911]]
While in his early teens, Tolkien had his first encounter with a [[constructed language]], Animalic, an invention of his cousins, Mary and [[Marjorie Incledon]]. At that time, he was studying Latin and Anglo-Saxon. Their interest in Animalic soon died away, but Mary and others, including Tolkien himself, invented a new and more complex language called Nevbosh. The next constructed language he came to work with, Naffarin, would be his own creation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tolkien's Not-So-Secret Vice |url=http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/vice.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122010424/http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/vice.htm |archive-date=22 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tolkien's Languages |url=http://lordfingulfin.webs.com/earlierlanguages.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110153/http://lordfingulfin.webs.com/earlierlanguages.htm |archive-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> Tolkien learned [[Esperanto]] some time before 1909. Around 10 June 1909 he composed "The Book of the Foxrook", a sixteen-page notebook, where the "earliest example of one of his invented alphabets" appears.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bramlett |first=Perry C. |url={{Google books|8ef3-s6fixIC |page=PA136 |keywords= |text= |plainurl=yes}} |title=I Am in Fact a Hobbit: An Introduction to the Life and Works of J. R. R. Tolkien |publisher=[[Mercer University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-86554-894-7 |page=136 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215191402/https://books.google.com/books?id=8ef3-s6fixIC&pg=PA136 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Short texts in this notebook are written in Esperanto.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Arden R. |author-link=Arden R. Smith |title=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006 |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |page=172 |chapter=Esperanto |chapter-url={{Google books|B0loOBA3ejIC |page=PA172 |plainurl=yes}}|postscript=,}} and [http://parmadili.skf.org.pl/elendili/esperanto.jpg Book of the Foxrook] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202162102/http://parmadili.skf.org.pl/elendili/esperanto.jpg |date=2 February 2017 }}; transcription on [http://www.elendilion.pl/2007/06/18/tolkien-i-esperanto/ Tolkien i Esperanto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019054129/http://www.elendilion.pl/2007/06/18/tolkien-i-esperanto/ |date=19 October 2016 }}; the text begins with "PRIVATA KODO SKAŬTA" (Private Scout Code).</ref>

In 1911, while they were at King Edward's School, Tolkien and three friends, Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Bache Smith, and Christopher Wiseman, formed a semi-secret society they called the T.C.B.S. The initials stood for Tea Club and Barrovian Society, alluding to their fondness for drinking tea in [[Barrows (department store)|Barrow's Stores]] near the school and, secretly, in the school library.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=53–54}}</ref><ref>''[[Tolkien and the Great War]]'', p. 6.</ref> After leaving school, the members stayed in touch and, in December 1914, they held a council in London at Wiseman's home. For Tolkien, the result of this meeting was a strong dedication to [[Tolkien's poetry|writing poetry]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|p=82}}</ref>

In 1911, Tolkien went on a summer holiday in Switzerland, a trip that he recollected vividly in a 1968 letter,<ref name="Letters306" group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|Tolkien|1981|loc=''Letters'' #306 to Michael Tolkien, 1967 or 1968}}</ref> noting that [[Bilbo Baggins|Bilbo]]'s journey across the [[Misty Mountains]] ("including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods") is directly based on his adventures as their party of 12 hiked from [[Interlaken]] to [[Lauterbrunnen]] and on to camp in the [[moraine]]s beyond [[Mürren]]. Fifty-seven years later, Tolkien remembered his regret at leaving the view of the eternal snows of [[Jungfrau]] and [[Silberhorn]], "the Silvertine ([[Celebdil]]) of my dreams". They went across the [[Kleine Scheidegg]] to [[Grindelwald]] and on across the [[Grosse Scheidegg]] to [[Meiringen]]. They continued across the [[Grimsel Pass]], through the upper [[Valais]] to [[Brig, Switzerland|Brig]] and on to the [[Aletsch glacier]] and [[Zermatt]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1911 – J. R. R. Tolkien besichtigt das Oberwallis |url=https://www.valais-wallis-digital.ch/de/a/#!/explore/cards/173 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092953/https://www.valais-wallis-digital.ch/de/a/#!/explore/cards/173 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |website=Valais Wallis Digital |language=de|postscript=,}} citing {{harvnb|Carpenter|Tolkien|1981|loc=''Letters'' #306 to Michael Tolkien, autumn 1968.}}</ref>

In October of the same year, Tolkien began studying at [[Exeter College, Oxford]]. He initially read [[classics]] but changed his course in 1913 to English language and [[English literature|literature]], graduating in 1915 with [[first-class honours]].<ref name="RoyalMail">{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |title=The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien Author and Illustrator |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |date=26 February 2004 |publisher=[[Royal Mail]] Group plc (commemorative postage stamp pack) |author-link=Wayne G. Hammond |author-link2=Christina Scull}}</ref> Among his tutors at Oxford was [[Joseph Wright (linguist)|Joseph Wright]], whose ''Primer of the Gothic Language'' had inspired Tolkien as a schoolboy.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=45, 63–64}}</ref>