THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT. Containing the complete unpublished manuscript version of The Hobbit.

First One Volume Edition, first printing. Revised and expanded from the 2007 two volume edition. Publisher's original black boards with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated with colour plates including many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps by Tolkien. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the bright original dustwrapper that is a little creased at the edges and otherwise without fading, loss or tears. Not price-clipped (£35.00 to the lower front flap).

Issued for the first time in one volume, and revised and updated from the original 2007 edition, John D. Rateliff not only presents the complete unpublished text of the original manuscript of J. R. R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit', but also gives a lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. This book shows the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, and examines – chapter-by-chapter – why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien's ever-growing concept of Middle-earth. The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its successor, 'The Lord of the Rings', it is a story that "grew in the telling", and many characters and story threads in the published text are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads". The book includes many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit by the author himself, and also features extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how he came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in 'The Lord of the Rings'.