The Hobbit (First Folio Society Edition)

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. London: George Allen & Unwin for The Folio Society, 1976.

Octavo. Half brown calf with gilt titling and decorative design to spine and boards, map endpapers, thirteen colour plates including frontispiece. In original publisher's slipcase. First Folio Society impression — the true first, the later 1979 maroon-boards edition being the second impression despite its frequent misdescription in the trade.

The Folio Society's 1976 Hobbit occupies a singular position in the bibliography of Tolkien's most beloved work. Published the year following Tolkien's death, this first Folio Society edition draws directly on the sheets of Allen & Unwin's deluxe edition of the same year, as well as retaining the author's own original illustrations. However, the binding, with its gilt labyrinthine design by Jeff Clements, is among the handsomest Tolkien has received from any publisher.

A very good copy in a very good slipcase. Some light scuffing to the leather corners and normal shelf wear to the slipcase exterior, as one expects of a working copy that has spent half a century in a good library. Contents fine and free from any markings.

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Catalogue Number: HH000452