Description: Allen and Unwin 1937 1st printing of the 1st Edition. We are thrilled to offer the now super rare Hobbit 1st/1st. This is a separate copy from my set of the first four Hobbit printings. These come up for sale so rarely we cannot say when we will see another, especially in the original jacket. Jacket covers have some darkening to spine, covers bright. The jacket would normally have some tattering to the spine head and top edge, but it has had some minor restoration to the top edge, so looks as- new. This is less than 5% of the jacket so not significant at all. The book has slight lean, a little grubbiness to clothe edges, but clean overall with no foxing. The Hobbit First edition: Possibly uniquely in children's publishing, when The Hobbit came out in 1937, it contained quite a few things in that first edition that are much different to the book as we know it now in the second and later editions. Some of the changes were made because The Hobbit was being drawn into the larger stories in Middle earth and was becoming far more serious and darker. Firstly, in that first edition Bilbo at the Unexpected Party had sandwiches with tomatoes in them - tomatoes are of course from the New World, so Tolkien changed that in the second edition to pickles. Indeed, Tolkien spends quite some time in Letters explaining how potatoes might have existed, as well as tobacco - both New World varieties. In this case, Tolkien cleverly used 'taters' and 'pipeweed', thus obscuring the origin of the plants in question. The second and largest and most significant change was to the chapter 'Riddles in the Dark', where the last section of the chapter is completely different. Gollum, having lost the riddle game to the Hobbit, apologises profusely and offers to lead Bilbo out as compensation for the gift he would have given him (presumably the magic ring). He takes him so far along the tunnels, and then gets suspicious, and Bilbo then has to get past him - overhearing Gollum's talk to himself that reveals that the ring is capable of making him invisible. The Hobbit originally in 1937 had no link to Middle earth and the magic ring was just an equaliser device to give Bilbo some edge and extra powers to become 'heroic' when he was not brave or very resourceful.Since changing the text would have required all the metal plates for printing being recast anew, this was no small change. Thirdly, the illustrations by Tolkien used in the first edition were all black and white. This was due to the added cost of colour printing. In subsequent editions more illustrations which included colour were used. This makes the first edition an unique document in the annals of children's fiction. The price may seem high, but within a couple years we expect it to be even higher. The last copy to sell under auction about six months ago went for $300,000 dollars. These are now too expensive to be sent and will be hand delivered. We will advise you of the costs depending on your location.
Price: 299000 GBP
Location: Machynlleth
End Time: 2025-01-16T13:02:46.000Z
Shipping Cost: 43.31 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 14 days
Format: Hardback w/Jacket
Special Attributes: 1st Edition, Dust Jacket, With Dust Jacket
Original/Reproduction: Original
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
Title/Series: The Hobbit
Year Printed: 1937
Original/Facsimile: Original
