The Hobbit or There and Back Again

First American edition, earliest issue, with bowing hobbit on title page, frontispiece mounted on stub, lacking half-title (as issued), chapter VII numbered VI, maps bound opposite to listing in illustrations, jacket priced $2.50. Illustrations by the author. Color frontispiece and 12 plates (3 in color). 310 pp. First leaf is a blank. 1 vols. 8vo. First American edition, in scarce original dust jacket, of the fantasy classic-"among the very highest achievements of children's authors during the 20th century" (Carpenter & Pritchard, 530)-with four of Tolkien's illustrations printed in color. These images, now iconic and inseparable from the book, were commissioned by Houghton Mifflin. Not unlike its titular protagonist-the "little fellow" Bilbo Baggins, quiet and unremarkable, who nonetheless becomes the hero of an epic adventure-The Hobbit, now widely hailed as a landmark work not only of children's literature but also of world fantasy, had a humble origin. "All I can remember about the start of The Hobbit," Tolkien would later recall in a letter to his friend W.H. Auden, "is sitting correcting School Certificate papers in the everlasting weariness of that annual task forced on impecunious academics with children. On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' I did not and do not know why. I did nothing about it, for a long time. but it became The Hobbit in the early 1930s." The Hobbit served as readers' introduction to Middle-Earth, the elaborately textured and completely convincing imaginary world that Tolkien had been creating as a private exercise since as early as 1918, continuing for the rest of his life, and finding its fullest expression in The Lord of The Rings (1954-1955). "Professor Tolkien's epic of Middle Earth. [is considered] one of [the 20th] century's lasting contributions to that borderland of literature between youth and age. There are few such books-Gulliver's Travels, The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows-what else? [Tolkien's tales of Middle-Earth are] destined to become this century's contribution to that select list of books which continue through the ages to be read by children and adults with almost equal pleasure" (Eyre, 67, 134-5). First published in London by Allen & Unwin on September 21, 1937 in a first printing of only 1500 copies, The Hobbit had completely sold out by December 15. A second impression of 2300 copies was rushed to press. "Four plates of color illustrations by Tolkien are present [in the second London impression] . these had been commissioned for the first American edition, and were in the American publisher's hands when Allen & Unwin decided to include them in the second impression. The original art was called back for reproduction in Britain, then returned across the Atlantic. Tolkien thought that the color plates came out well, but was sorry that the 'Eagle picture' (Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes) was not included" (Hammond, 15). The "eagle picture" is present in this American edition. The official publication date of the second English impression is January 25, 1938; the first American edition was published on March 1, 1938, in an edition of only 5000 copies. Hammond & Anderson A3b1; Currey 385 Original greenish-tan cloth with hobbit bowing stamped in red and title in blue, map endpapers. Very good, very clean with Hudson's Detroit bookseller's ticket and stamp "$2.50" on rear endpapers, light soiling to topedge. Dust jacket with general wear and creasing, chip to corners of upper panel, which is split along front hinge and hinge to flap, large chip from head of spine, large chip to lower panel bottom corner. Preserved in custom half-morocco clamshell box Illustrations by the author. Color frontispiece and 12 plates (3 in color). 310 pp. First leaf is a blank. 1 vols. 8vo First American edition, earliest issue, with bowing hobbit on title page, frontispiece mounted on stub.…