JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit

1937 Allen & Unwin First Edition, First Printing

Wonderfully Bound by The Chelsea Bindery

Very Few Copies Left in the World!

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Up for auction is a first edition, first impression of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.  The Hobbit hit shelves on September 21, 1937.  1500 copies were printed and it quickly sold out.  As many copies went to libraries, or were owned by children and ruined, or were damaged in the Great War, or have not simply survived the last 75 years, original first editions are very, very rare.  It was the only edition to not have any color illustrations.  Like Frodo or Bilbo, going on an incredible journey and living to tell about it, this is much like these last few copies of The Hobbit that too have survived.  There are only 7 or 8 copies currently available in the world and this copy is in the best shape of them all.

The Hobbit is bound in a superb binding by the world's greatest binders – The Chelsea Bindery.  In full green Moroccan leather, lettered gilt at the spine with 5 raised bands decorated gilt, inner gilt dentelles and marbled endpapers – gorgeous!   The endpapers (maps) have been removed.  It has no flaws to mention.  The pages are bright and all present – including the two pages of advertisements - a flawless copy!  The binding is tight and there will not be a better copy offered as this is superior quality!  It meets all first impression issue points and there is a great website that accurately described first printing issue points: http://www.tolkiencollector.com/hobbhist.htm.

Just to have a book bound by The Chelsea Bindery is quite a wait and costs thousands of dollars.  To the collector, having a copy of this quality, bound by The Chelsea Bindery, is a dream come true! It truly is a lovely copy and the kind collectors want to find.  It is well protected in a clamshell case.  

Signed copies of The Hobbit have reached sales of over $100,000.00 in the last few years and of course are very special indeed; however, like a Dickens novel, without being rebound, time will catch up to any book and the older it gets, the older it will look.  It really is a matter of preference and both kinds of first editions have their merits; a first edition that will age over the years (naturally), or a copy that has been rebound (by the greatest bindery in the world) in a way that will last in mint condition.  Really, any collector that can afford either type of copy would be happy to own their "precious" as there are only so many left in existence.  To find a copy today and have it rebound (75 years later) would probably already be too late to have it looking like this because it would have aged.  The gold gild on the pages not only looks beautiful, but its job is to protect the inner pages from moisture and dust.  Like people, 75 years is going to show its age unless protected early in its life.  With the movies coming out over the next three years, and the merchandise and everything else that will follow, the value will steadily rise for the next five to seven years - and then probably plateau.

To find a copy in this condition is almost impossible now.   For a collector, it's a dream come true.  For those historians who want to know that copies like this still exist, it also creates a sigh of relief!  This is a wonderful keepsake, certainly a discussion piece when company comes over, an amazing heirloom to pass down to children and great grandchildren, and their children, and obviously, for lovers of everything this book stands for and means to our past, present, and future children, this book is a true piece of literary history.

Peter Jackson's first movie broke December box office records - easily beating all three Lord of the Rings films in ticket sales.  Just imagine in two years when the final movie in the trilogy is released.  During the next two years, the availability of a first edition will go down, and the value will undoubtedly go up.

No reasonable offer will be refused.  It will be shipped in a good box with tracked shipping (FREE!).  If you would like a specific photo, just send me an email.