THE HOBBIT, 1937 FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING
George Allen & Unwin, London, 1937. 1st Edition. Hardcover.
George Allen & Unwin, London, 1937
FIRST Edition, FIRST Printing, 1937: A near fine unrestored copy. Lacking the original dust jacket.
The first printing of The Hobbit was issued on 21st September 1937 with a print run of only 1500 copies. The book was an immediate success and sold out within months. The first printing is the only printing in which all the illustration plates are in black and white. (The second impression was printed in December the same year in an edition of 2300 copies and was the first printing to convert four of the author’s black and white illustration plates to color.) Please note, that today first/firsts of this title in original jackets are selling for $300,000 and up in an original jacket. This copy lacks the original dust jacket.
This unrestored book is in near fine condition for a First Printing. The boards have vibrant cloth to the front and rear boards and some of the common toning to the spine. The cloth is in supple condition, overall clean with a bit of toning/aging. The book has sharp corners with one slightly rounded corner. The top and bottom of the spine show a touch of fraying/rubbing to the cloth. The binding is tight and square. The original important map end papers are present and clean with no owner names, no inscriptions, no bookplates and no bookstore stamps. The internal pages are all clean, and with an occasional handling mark. The outside of the page block has some foxing which has remained to the outer page block only. NO bent pages, no stains, and no writing. An overall clean unrestored book. Lacking the dust jacket. Please see all the images.
A superb first/first printing in very clean condition.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. Please see our store for other landmark Fantasy and SciFi titles. Near Fine. Item #3323Price: $82,995.00