SWINDON commercial law firm Thrings has given specialist copyright and intellectual property advice to the principal of a school where previously forgotten poems by author JRR Tolkien have been rediscovered.

The two poems – The Shadow Man and Noel – were found in the 1936 annual magazine of Our Lady’s School in Abingdon in Oxfordshire. They are thought to have been written while Tolkien, best-known for writing the Lord of the Rings fantasy trilogy, was a professor at Oxford University.

The discovery was made after Tolkien expert Wayne G. Hammond found a note from Tolkien in which the author referred to two poems he had submitted to the Abingdon Chronicle. Tracking this reference to Our Lady’s School magazine, Hammond contacted Principal Stephen Oliver who passed the query on to archivists at the Bermondsey convent of the Sisters of Mercy, who founded the school in 1860.

But, while preparing for an event for school alumni, Mr Oliver came across an original copy of the magazine, complete with the two poems in question.

Recognising their literary significance, Mr Oliver took steps to establish the legal status of the poems, and to ensure there was no unauthorised publication or breach of copyright.

Thrings’ Graeme Fearon, a specialist in intellectual property and data protection, said: “Many of Tolkien’s stories deal with hidden treasure, so it’s a nice twist that some of his own works have been rediscovered after lying buried for so long.“The school’s original copies of the newspaper will now be worth considerably more than they were before, but that shouldn’t be confused with the value of the copyright in the poems themselves – that belongs to Tolkien’s Estate and only they can authorise any fresh publication.”