Forum Auctions

Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression, map endpapers, illustrations, frontispiece and 3 colour plates, small ownership inscription on front free endpapers, original cloth, boards lightly bowed, small strip of fading to extremities, otherwise excellent, dust-jacket, some chips and nicks to extremities, light patch of spotting to upper panel, light spotting to flaps and fore-edge, [Hammond A3a], 8vo, 1937 [but 1938].

• Rare in jacket.
  

The second impression was the first version of the book to be illustrated in colour: the first impression had two plates only, both of which were uncoloured. A total of 2,300 copies were printed, and some 400 held at the binder's London warehouse were destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940.

Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression, map endpapers, illustrations, frontispiece and 3 colour plates, very light toning to endpapers and very faint spotting on half-title and occasionally throughout, original cloth, slight shelf-lean, spine ends neatly repaired, extremities a little rubbed and frayed, light surface toning and marking, still overall an excellent copy, [Hammond A3a], 8vo, 1937 [but 1938].

• See previous lot for publication details.

Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Lord of the Rings, 3 vol., comprising The Fellowship of the Ring, second impression, one or two spots to fore-edge, cloth spine ends faded, dust-jacket, spine browned with large portions of loss to spine affecting text, red ink stain to lower flap, heavy tape repairs along joints and extremities, edges nicked and frayed, rubbed, 1954; The Two Towers, first impression, ink ownership inscription and bookplate on endpapers, first and last few pages foxed, 1954, The Return of the King, first impression with signature mark '4' and sagging text to p.49, ink ownership inscription and bookplate on endpapers, spotting on endpapers and occasionally throughout, heavier to first and last few pages, 1955, first editions, folding maps at end, original cloth, some shelf-lean, spine ends and corners a little bumped and frayed, scattered spotting and staining to covers, [Hammond A5a], 8vo.

Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Lord of the Rings, 3 vol., comprising The Fellowship of the Ring, upper hinge cracked, endpapers lightly foxed, cloth a little marked and faded, extremities a little rubbed, second impression dust-jacket without broken 'd' in 'Frodo' on lower flap and untrimmed portrait of the author on lower panel, neatly price-clipped, spine lightly faded, light creasing and rubbing to extremities, 1954; The Two Towers, endpapers lightly foxed, cloth spine a little faded, extremities a little rubbed, third impression dust-jacket spine head repaired with tape verso, chipping to spine tail, spine a little faded, light marking to lower panel, 1955; The Return of the King, cloth fine, jacket with few nicks and tears to edges, 1956, first American editions, first impressions, original cloth, dust-jackets, 8vo, [Hammond A5b], Boston, Houghton Mifflin.

• The first American edition is considerably scarcer than the first English edition, with few coming up in commerce. Nearly all extant copies of the first impression of The Fellowship of the Ring have been recorded with the first state jacket, with most issued with the second state.