Lot 296
Tolkien, J. R. R.
The Hobbit
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 07 February 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937. First edition, second impression, 8vo, 310 pp., original green cloth, titles and decoration to spine and covers in blue, map endpapers printed in red and black, colour frontispiece depicting Hobbiton, 3 colour plates ('The Fair Valley of Rivendell'; 'The Dark River opened Suddenly Wide', '"O Smaug, the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities"', one uncoloured plate (Mirkwood), full-page illustrations in text, advertisement leaf to rear, spine and covers marked, loss to head and foot of spine, incipient wear to section of front joint, front board slightly bowed and with fraying to cloth along top edge, tips of both boards bumped and worn, inner hinges superficially split but remaining firm, light spotting to endpapers and half-title, light finger-soiling to half-title, title-page and occasionally elsewhere, a few leaves faintly dog-eared [cf. Hammond A3a]
Footnote
The second impression was the first version of the book to be illustrated in colour: the first impression had two plates only, both of which were uncoloured. A total of 2,300 copies were printed, and some 400 held at the binder's London warehouse were destroyed during an air raid in November 1940.