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The Hobbit or There and Back Again

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The Hobbit or There and Back Again

by TOLKIEN, J. R. R

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
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About This Item

London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937, 1937. FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING. 1 vol., 7-11/16" x 5-5/8", Frontispiece & 8 B&W plates and one vignette by Tolkien, advertisement leaf at end, top edge of textblock tinted green, bound in the publisher's original stamped green cloth, map pastedowns and endpapers, internally clean and bright, no foxing, no lean to the spine, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spine fine, back corners square, lower rear corner of the foot of the spine rubbed with some slight loss, completely unsophisticated without any repairs, neat ownership signature of Betty Jean Orton dated Xmas 1937 to front blank endleaf, A NEAR FINE COPY. Provenance: Betty Jean Orton is the daughter of Harold Orton (1898-1975), English dialectologist and lexicographer remembered for his monumental Survey of English Dialects (1962-72). Tolkien began writing The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, as a Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford University. Tolkien's creative perspective was born from a childhood spent briefly in South Africa and then rural England, a short but wretched tour during World War I, and an avid fascination with German philology. Although it was originally billed as a children's book, The Hobbit attracted a varied audience and has been wildly popular since its initial publication. Tolkien built upon the tradition of fantasy literature developed by George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, and the folk tales of Arabian Nights by inventing a new language-Elvish-and making it accessible for modern-day readers. Such creativity brought rave reviews for The Hobbit. 1,500 copies were published on Sept. 21, 1937 and were sold out by December. Less then three months after publication. REFERENCE: Currey 476; Hammond A3a

Synopsis

The Hobbit tells the famous story of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who is caught up in the affairs of wizards. His journey through Mirkwood and the climactic confrontation with the dragon Smaug served as the launching point for Tolkien's transformative trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Many of the essential elements of Tolkien's classic saga have their roots in this children's book. The story remains popular, and stands as one of the most enduring (and endearing) stories of the last century. The Hobbit sparked a creative explosion in speculative fiction, a fire that burns brightly to this day. The revival in interest in recent years, in part due to the popularity of the film series inspired by Tolkien's books only shows the timelessness of his story, and the importance of his work.

Read More: Identifying first editions of The Hobbit or There and Back Again

Reviews

On Mar 18 2022, a reader said:
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (but nobody really calls it that anyway), a tale written some time ago by some J. R. R. Tolkien fella, is the story of a Hobbit who indeed goes there... and back again. You see, in the going of there, preceding the coming back again to the place he was before he went there, he came across many an interesting thing in the wild lands to the east (As well as the less wild lands to the west of the East, known to some as the West. There was also some northward travel, but we won't get into that in this review, or the next review for that matter, as the next review will likely have nothing to do with this review, making stories of the northward travels of hobbits of no use, but I digress. Back to the list I was about to list.), such as dwarves, trolls, goblins, a neat ring that most likely will serve no real importance in future adventures by Tolkien, wargs, eagles, a bear dude named Beorn, spiders, elves, some other guys, a dragon, a thrush, some ravens, some rocks, I guess, a wizard, various waters, treasure, glorious gemstone, and some other things that I don't care to recall. Anyway, the story is about Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who does some stuff and goes somewhere (an unusual thing for a Hobbit, apparently, despite the number of books and movies and erotic fanfics based on the adventures of various Hobbits). Most importantly though, the book comes fully equip with two maps! TWO! Not one, not three, but TWO! Of course, I was reading the 70th anniversary edition, bought from www.biblio.com (sign up today!), so the number of maps may vary, depending on whether or not you're reading a library edition that has had numerous pages unceremoniously removed by children. Though, this version has the maps on the back of the front cover and front of the back cover (or would that be the back of the back cover?), making it a lot harder for me/children to rip them from the book to store in my/their stolen map collection. I figure this is enough for a review, so I'll stop rambling now. But I must insist the few of you who haven't read this book stop not having read this book and read this book! I read it and I have a (self-proclaimed) mental disorder (that I take lots and lots of sexy sounding medication for, much of which isn't legal or medication at all).
On Apr 1 2013, Fireflower537 said:
This book has one huge major flaw: There are NO female characters. I am guessing all the ladies are in Upper Earth and Lower Earth.

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Details

Bookseller
D&D Galleries - ABAA US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
002016
Title
The Hobbit or There and Back Again
Author
TOLKIEN, J. R. R
Book Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Publisher
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937
Date Published
1937

Terms of Sale

D&D Galleries - ABAA

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About the Seller

D&D Galleries - ABAA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2004
Somerville, New Jersey

About D&D Galleries - ABAA

Established in 1985. Member ABAA and PBFA

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Vignette
A decorative design or illustration placed at the beginning or end of a ...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...

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