Publisher and Year: London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937
Edition: Second impression. Printed in December 1937, just under three months after the first impression was published. In the second impression, the frontispiece was changed from black-and-white to full color, and three new color plates were added. Of the 2,300 copies that were printed, 423 were destroyed when the warehouse was bombed during the Blitz in November 1940. Lacking the scarce dust jacket. (Hammond & Anderson A3)
Condition and Description: Octavo, publisher's light green cloth cloth stamped in dark blue, green top stain, 310 pp (+2 pp ads). Illustrated by Tolkien with maps on the endpapers, a color frontispiece, three additional color plates, and nine black-and-white drawings. Cloth faded and stained. Green top stain faded. Staining to the edges of the text block. Rear endpaper splitting along the gutter, though the hinge remains intact (refer to the last photo). Binding secure, though a few gutters are lightly exposed, with examples shown (refer to images of pp. 17, 193, and 209). All pages firmly attached. Bookseller ticket to the front pastedown. Contemporary owner's name in pencil to the front blank leaf, dated 1939. Otherwise, free of prior owner's markings. Light-to-mild foxing to the preliminary leaves. Small tear to the lower margin of the frontispiece, not affecting the printed image. Occasional thumb soiling, staining, and handling wear to the pages, mostly up to p. 40 (representative examples shown) and much less thereafter. Stain to the verso of the Mirkwood illustration and the following page (p. 147). Housed in a modern clamshell case stamped in gilt.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
The Hobbitestablished the blueprint for modern high fantasy. Upon publication, few would have suspected that the novel would leave such a profound impact on literature. Seventeen years later, Tolkien published the first novel in TheLord of the Ringstrilogy, another watershed moment in the genre.
Inventory ID: 008 - 892 - 303
Publisher and Year: London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1937
Edition: Second impression. Printed in December 1937, just under three months after the first impression was published. In the second impression, the frontispiece was changed from black-and-white to full color, and three new color plates were added. Of the 2,300 copies that were printed, 423 were destroyed when the warehouse was bombed during the Blitz in November 1940. Lacking the scarce dust jacket. (Hammond & Anderson A3)
Condition and Description: Octavo, publisher's light green cloth cloth stamped in dark blue, green top stain, 310 pp (+2 pp ads). Illustrated by Tolkien with maps on the endpapers, a color frontispiece, three additional color plates, and nine black-and-white drawings. Cloth faded and stained. Green top stain faded. Staining to the edges of the text block. Rear endpaper splitting along the gutter, though the hinge remains intact (refer to the last photo). Binding secure, though a few gutters are lightly exposed, with examples shown (refer to images of pp. 17, 193, and 209). All pages firmly attached. Bookseller ticket to the front pastedown. Contemporary owner's name in pencil to the front blank leaf, dated 1939. Otherwise, free of prior owner's markings. Light-to-mild foxing to the preliminary leaves. Small tear to the lower margin of the frontispiece, not affecting the printed image. Occasional thumb soiling, staining, and handling wear to the pages, mostly up to p. 40 (representative examples shown) and much less thereafter. Stain to the verso of the Mirkwood illustration and the following page (p. 147). Housed in a modern clamshell case stamped in gilt.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
The Hobbitestablished the blueprint for modern high fantasy. Upon publication, few would have suspected that the novel would leave such a profound impact on literature. Seventeen years later, Tolkien published the first novel in TheLord of the Ringstrilogy, another watershed moment in the genre.
Inventory ID: 008 - 892 - 303
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