First state of the first American edition, with the bowing hobbit on the title page, and bound in the scarcer horizontally-ribbed cloth that can only be found on first state copies.
Publisher and Year: Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938
Edition: First American edition, first state, with the bowing hobbit on the title page (changed to a seated flautist in the second state). Although the presence of the bowing hobbit is the sole issue point needed to identify the first state, there are several other notable features of these copies, including the absence of a half-title page (added in the second state), Thror's map erroneously noted as located at the front in the list of illustrations (corrected in the second state), and Chapter VII mistakenly titled Chapter VI (fixed in the third state). Compared to the first British edition that was issued five months earlier, the first American edition used a different cover design and was issued in a larger format, printed on heavier paper, and included four color plates by Tolkien. Bound in the variant horizontally-ribbed cloth noted by Hammond and Anderson (“Binding 2”), which is considerably scarcer than the ordinary cloth, and can only be found on first state copies. For first-state copies, priority of the two binding variants is not known. Hammond and Anderson note in their 1993 bibliography having seen only one example of Binding 2. Lacking the scarce dust jacket. (Hammond & Anderson A3b; Frisby, 2009)
Condition and Description: Octavo, 8.25” x 6”, light tan cloth stamped in blue and red, 310 pp. Endpaper maps printed in red. Includes thirteen illustrations drawn by Tolkien, of which four are in color (including the frontispiece). Lacking the blank leaf between the final page of text and the rear free endpaper, which was cleanly excised; else complete. Cloth with some soiling and handling marks; a 1.5” stain to the fore-edge of the rear board; rubbing and bumping to the extremities with some exposure and fraying; tanning to the spine; and small losses to the spine ends. Hinges sound. Gutter after second blank leaf cracking but holding. Binding sound with some occasional slight overopening. Name in ink to the first blank leaf; otherwise free of prior owner’s markings. A few short marginal tears, not affecting the text. Housed in a modern slipcase stamped in gilt.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
The Hobbit established the blueprint for modern high fantasy. Upon publication, few would have suspected that the novel would have such a profound impact on literature. Seventeen years later, Tolkien published the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, another watershed moment in the genre.
Inventory ID: 738 - 039 - 320
First state of the first American edition, with the bowing hobbit on the title page, and bound in the scarcer horizontally-ribbed cloth that can only be found on first state copies.
Publisher and Year: Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938
Edition: First American edition, first state, with the bowing hobbit on the title page (changed to a seated flautist in the second state). Although the presence of the bowing hobbit is the sole issue point needed to identify the first state, there are several other notable features of these copies, including the absence of a half-title page (added in the second state), Thror's map erroneously noted as located at the front in the list of illustrations (corrected in the second state), and Chapter VII mistakenly titled Chapter VI (fixed in the third state). Compared to the first British edition that was issued five months earlier, the first American edition used a different cover design and was issued in a larger format, printed on heavier paper, and included four color plates by Tolkien. Bound in the variant horizontally-ribbed cloth noted by Hammond and Anderson (“Binding 2”), which is considerably scarcer than the ordinary cloth, and can only be found on first state copies. For first-state copies, priority of the two binding variants is not known. Hammond and Anderson note in their 1993 bibliography having seen only one example of Binding 2. Lacking the scarce dust jacket. (Hammond & Anderson A3b; Frisby, 2009)
Condition and Description: Octavo, 8.25” x 6”, light tan cloth stamped in blue and red, 310 pp. Endpaper maps printed in red. Includes thirteen illustrations drawn by Tolkien, of which four are in color (including the frontispiece). Lacking the blank leaf between the final page of text and the rear free endpaper, which was cleanly excised; else complete. Cloth with some soiling and handling marks; a 1.5” stain to the fore-edge of the rear board; rubbing and bumping to the extremities with some exposure and fraying; tanning to the spine; and small losses to the spine ends. Hinges sound. Gutter after second blank leaf cracking but holding. Binding sound with some occasional slight overopening. Name in ink to the first blank leaf; otherwise free of prior owner’s markings. A few short marginal tears, not affecting the text. Housed in a modern slipcase stamped in gilt.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
The Hobbit established the blueprint for modern high fantasy. Upon publication, few would have suspected that the novel would have such a profound impact on literature. Seventeen years later, Tolkien published the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, another watershed moment in the genre.
Inventory ID: 738 - 039 - 320
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