The Hobbit or There and Back Again. Illustrated by the author.

TOLKIEN, J. R. R.

Published by London: George Allen and Unwin, 1937

First colour-illustrated edition, preceded only by the first printing. Only 2,300 copies of this edition were printed, of which 423 in sheets were destroyed in the bombing of London in 1940. The coloured versions of the illustrations "had been commissioned for their 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" (Hammond & Anderson, p. 15). The first edition was published on 21 September 1937 and the first impression of 1,500 copies sold out by December. Hammond & Anderson A3. Octavo. Colour frontispiece, 4 full-page plates from drawings by the author (3 in colour, 1 monochrome: "Mirkwood"), 8 full-page line drawings. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in green morocco, raised bands, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, single gilt rule to covers, an elaborate onlay to both the front and back covers, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, burgundy endpapers with the original endpapers bound in at front and back, edges gilt. Housed in a green cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. The occasional minor blemish, an excellent copy. Seller Inventory # 174577

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Hobbit or There and Back Again. ...
Publisher: London: George Allen and Unwin, 1937
Edition: 1st Edition