George Allen & Unwin, London, 1946
First Edition, Fourth Impression, 1946 : A Fine/Near fine very clean copy in the ORIGINAL EXTREMELY SCARCE DUST JACKET, NOT PRICE CLIPPED. War time paper book and jacket. Extremely rare in this condition.
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 was the only printing in which all the artistic illustration plates are in black and white. The second impression was printed in December the same year in an edition of 2300 copies (423 of which were destroyed at the warehouse of the binder, Key and Whiting, in the bombing of London on November 7th 1940) and was the first printing to convert four of the author’s black and white illustration plates to color. These were initially commissioned for and later published in the American edition. [Hammond A3a.] Then both the 3rd and 4th impressions were printed using wartime paper. These first four printings of The Hobbit were all textually the same as the first printing, but after the fourth impression and beginning with the fifth impression, Tolkien changed some of the text in chapter 5 “Riddles In The Dark” to allow for a transition to his sequel trilogy “The Lord Of The Rings”. Please note – Currently only two first impression printings (in the original dust jacket) are listed today, both listed for over $270,000.00 and up; and there is currently only one other 4th impression copy in the original jacket listed such as our example listed at $65,000. Very early printings of this title in this condition, have become extremely scarce in their original jackets.
A lovely Fine/Near Fine clean book. The boards are a vibrant green and withOUT the common fraying or brittleness and withOUT the common age toning. Instead, the cloth is all present, and in supple condition, and overall clean and fresh in appearance. The book has sharp corners, with one corner bumped, and a square tight binding. The original decorative map end papers are present and clean and bright with a small, erased owner name. The book is in beautiful clean condition with no bookplates, no owner names, no inscriptions, no handling marks, no stains, no bent pages, one small original bookstore sticker to lower front-end paper. Green top stain applied by publisher. A remarkably clean book in excellent collectible condition. Please see all the images.
The exceedingly scarce Fine/Near Fine original 4th impression dust jacket has benefited from very very slight restoration by an expert paper conservator to the outer spine tips and to a 1/2″ intact tear to the jacket verso. As such the dust jacket presents in near fine condition being overall bright and with strong vibrant colors, and with but only some very slight sunning to the spine (as quite common with this jacket). The jacket has no rips, no chips, no edgewear, no stains and no foxing, but has a slight bit of soft wrinkling to the very upper edge of the back panel, (located around where the small intact tear once existed). The dust jacket is NOT price clipped and has a stated price of 7s 6d. net, along with the requisite “Fourth Impression” stated above the price on the inner flap. Please see numerous detailed images.
A superb first edition, fourth impression printing in very clean condition. All images available in high resolution format upon request. The value of this copy is in the original jacket which is 10x scarcer than the book itself, and the few copies in the original jacket that come up for sale have usually instead have seen extensive restoration.
The book has been recognized as “Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers)”, and The Hobbit was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction of the year (1938).
Shipping via UPS Express, direct delivery and signed for with full insurance.
