The Hobbit.

TOLKIEN, J.R.R.

Item Number: 124568

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1937.

First edition of Tolkien’s first novel. Octavo, original green cloth, cartographic endpapers, frontispiece and 9 full-page uncolored illustrations after drawings by Tolkien. Near fine in a near fine first-issue dust jacket with the hand-correction to “Dodgeson” on the rear inside flap with a few small closed tears. Published on September 21, 1937 with a first printing of only 1500 copies, The Hobbit had completely sold out by December 15. Rare, especially in this condition.

"In enchanted Middle-earth, a small, comfort-loving Hobbit is awakened from his slumbers by a visitor who tells of lost treasure. Before Bilbo Baggins returns home again, he journeys past wizards and elves, talkative trees and treasure-guarding dragons, all swirling in cosmic battle between good and evil. J.R.R. Tolkien's fully realized fantasy world won over generations of children, and dazzled adults with its deft interweaving of medieval legend and made-up languages, maps, and creatures. Tolkien legitimized the modern fantasy genre, and provided the 1960's counterculture with antiwar, back-to-Eden icons" (NYPL Books of the Century 199).