The History of The Hobbit

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 12:16, 31 May 2022 by Luotiansha (talk | contribs)
The History of The Hobbit
The History of The Hobbit - Mr. Baggins.jpg
AuthorJ.R.R. Tolkien
EditorJohn D. Rateliff
IllustratorJ.R.R. Tolkien
PublisherHarperCollins (UK)
Houghton Mifflin (US)
Released2007
FormatHardcover
ISBNs0007235550
0007250665

The History of The Hobbit traces the evolution of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit through the various extant manuscripts and drafts (formerly unpublished). The editor, John D. Rateliff, presents an extensive study on the early development of The Hobbit, and also details how Tolkien made revisions to the story to accommodate the events in The Lord of the Rings.

First Edition

The first edition of The History of The Hobbit was released in two parts, Mr. Baggins (Part One) and Return to Bag End (Part Two) in May and June of 2007 in the U.K. by HarperCollins, then in September in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin, which also released it as a boxed set in October. The Houghton Mifflin boxed set also includes a new edition of The Hobbit with a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, a reset text incorporating the most up-to-date corrections, and all of Tolkien's own drawings and color illustrations, including the rare "Mirkwood" piece.[1]

In an interview conducted before the publication, Rateliff described the undertaking in the following way:

The big project, which I've been working on for years and will finally be sending to the publisher near the end of this year, is a book called The History of The Hobbit. It's rather along the lines of Christopher Tolkien's editions that make up the History of Middle-Earth series (which I highly recommend if you haven't read them): an edition of the original manuscript of The Hobbit with extensive commentary on how Mr. Baggins' story fits into Tolkien's legendarium. It's a big book filled with the entire text of Tolkien's first draft, along with short essays about everything from rings of invisibility or Tolkien's spiders to a detailed account of just when Tolkien wrote the book (which can actually be reconstructed from available evidence to within a month or two on either end). I hope people will like it when it finally sees the light of day.
—John Rateliff[2]

One-volume Edition

On 24 March 2011, Rateliff announced that HarperCollins is reprinting, together with an Addendum, The History of The Hobbit as a single-volume book.[3] This "Revised Updated edition" was released on 27 October 2011.[4] The Addendum contains (as announced by Rateliff)[5]:

  1. "Timeline of Events" [the fifteen days following Durin's Day]
  2. "Notes on a Parley "[detailed description of the Front Gate]
  3. "Responses to Queries" [some proofreader's concerns addressed by J.R.R. Tolkien]
  4. "Personae" [an interesting listing of Thorin and Company]
  5. "Runic Charts" [details on using dwarven runes]
  6. "Feanorian Letters" [details on writing in tengwar, including punctuation and numbers]

Publication history and gallery

First edition cover vol.1  
First edition cover vol.2  
The History of The Hobbit boxed set  
The History of The Hobbit boxed set slipcase art  
One-volume Edition cover  

About the author

John D. Rateliff moved to Wisconsin in 1981 in order to work with the Tolkien manuscripts at Marquette University. He has been active in Tolkien scholarship for many years, delivering papers on Tolkien and the Inklings. While at Marquette, he assisted in the collation of their holdings with those Christopher Tolkien was editing for his History of Middle-earth series. A professional editor, he lives in the Seattle area with his wife and three cats, only one of whom is named after a Tolkien character.

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ The History of the Hobbit Book Information at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (accessed 18 April 2011)
  2. ↑ A Talk With John D. Rateliff at Monte's Journal (accessed 18 April 2011)
  3. ↑ THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT, second edition at Sacnoth's Scriptorium (accessed 18 April 2011)
  4. ↑ The History of the Hobbit: One Volume Edition at Amazon.co.uk (accessed 8 November 2011)
  5. ↑ THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT, second edition at Sacnoth's Scriptorium (accessed 8 November 2011)
Retrieved from "https://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_History_of_The_Hobbit&oldid=348151"