I compared the text of The Hobbit in Facsimile 1937 edition and Annotated Hobbit 2002 edition. I found serval changes unrecorded in AH, and tracked their history. Some of them might well be mistakes, which are also present in many current editions (marked with *). The following page numbers refer to 1937 edition.

*p19: it was FIVE[small caps]. > it was five. [Appears to be a typo first appears in the 1990s. AH 2002 still uses small caps. A 2020 pb uses italics.]

p31: "In lots of ways," said Gandalf. But in > "In lots of ways," said Gandalf. "But in

p36: and accidently said it aloud. > and accidentally said it aloud. [The first form is used in many hardcovers well into 1980s, and AH 1988. AH 2002 adopts the second form, without explanation.]

p43: Some said "no" and some said "yes." > Some said "no" and some said "yes".

p85: from being being eaten. > from being eaten.

*p90: Jusst one more quesstion > Jusst one more question [Apparently a typo first appears in the 1980s. Indeed, Gollum used "quesstion" just in the previous sentence. And HH says Tolkien changes this from "just one more question" to "Jusst one more quesstion". in the first typescript.]

p99: O, just crept along > Oh, just crept along [Appears to be first introduced in 1978. HH uses "Oh".]

*p102: I am so dreadfully hungry > I am dreadfully hungry [Appears to be a typo first appears in the 1990s. AH 1988 and HH use the first form. AH 2002 adopts the second form, without explanation. ]

*p109: He gathered the huge pine-cones from the branches of his tree. > He gathered the huge pine-cones from the branches of the tree. [Appears to be a typo first appears in the 1990s. AH 1988 and HH use the first form. AH 2002 adopts the second form, without explanation. ]

p110, 118, 119: lord of the eagles > Lord of the Eagles

p113: as far as ever they dared to go. > as far as they ever dared to go. [Appears to be first introduced in 1978.]

p114: lest he fell off > lest he fall off

*p121: no, no, NO[small caps], NO! > no, no, NO, NO! [Apparently a typo introduced in the 1990s. AH 2002 still uses small caps. Corret in 2020 pb.]

p138: great Goblin > Great Goblin

p193: Biblo > Bilbo

p210: steep above stream > steep above the stream

p215: Autumn > autumn

p226: momnet > moment

p258: "why > "Why

p260: the the river > the river

p274: he said is > he said, "is

p281: I gave it them! > I gave it to them!

p286: wild Wolves > Wild Wolves

p303: "The Forest > "the Forest

*p304: I suppose this is a first taste of it. > I suppose this is the first taste of it. [Appears to be first introduced in 1978.]

All other changes from 1937 edition to current edition are recorded in AH.

20 Sep update: Scull and Hammond have looked into the matters raised here and two of them (pp1275-8, p1404) are incorporated into the Addenda and Corrigenda page now: https://www.hammondandscull.com/addenda/collected_poems.html . It seems to suggest I was wrong about the others, and upon rechecking I find out I was indeed wrong at least in the p340 one (which is now struck).

---

Collected Poems (CP)

p340, 46D. It appears the second stanza beginning at l7 should belong to the first one. That is the way in 46A, B, C, and Leeds University Verse.

p351, 48F. "In this [F] he kept the second stanza unchanged from the earlier text", "In this form, with a necessary apostrophe after ‘goblets’, the poem was published in Leeds University Verse 1914–24 (1924), p. 56, and reprinted in our extended edition (2014) of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, pp. 284–5."
But the second stanza of F (or E, since the second stanza of F is not given directly) is different from Leeds University Verse and ATB in ll 11, 19, 20.

pp939-942, 128N. When Treason of Isengard quotes this version, 5 tiny differences between it and the LR version are overlooked, simply stating "this stanza is the same as in LR". LRRC uses the description in Treason of Isengard to reconstruct 128N. (See my discussion in https://zionius.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... of-the-lord-of-the-rings/ and https://zionius.wordpress.com/2024/06/ ... ngs-a-readers-companion/) CP corrects 2 of the differences, but 3 still remains.
N35: from west to east > from West to East
N92: mountain sheer > Mountain sheer
N116: island star > island-star
As mentioned in p947 for L35, these changes appear to enter during the proof stage of LR and unauthorized. They are quite consistent in all other versions.

pp1275-8, 175D. This version is stated to be from Time and Tide, however, it is actually from its reprint in Sauron Defeated pp296-9, with only one error in D45 corrected as noted in p1281. SD and CP used 175C as the base text when transcribing 175D and overlooked many differences.
D1: deep seas > deep sea
D40: its feet > its roots
D91: birds fled > birds rose
D123: the world > this world

p1404: "he notes"
Note on Bealuwearg is by Christopher Tolkien.

Companion and Guide mentions in the Gordon archive at Leeds there is "a satirical poem, Bummsdrápa, referring to the Kolbítar". But it is unpublished nor mentioned here. Of all the "unpublished" poems in Companion and Guide, only this, Monoceros, and Reginhardus remain unpublished, and the absence of the other two are explained.


The Adventures of Tom Bombadil issue

Many versions are stated to be transcribed from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962). Unfortunately this book is unavailable to me. But when I check them against 1965 and 1978 US reprints, or all later prints including the 2014 edition, many differences can be found. It seems unlikely there would be huge differences between ATB (1962) and its 1965 reprint (though it is not impossible, given the 2nd printing did change the order of poems), and the forms given in CP are always identical to the previous text in CP, so I guess maybe the previous text or some unpublished draft was used as the base text, and many small changes are overlooked.

69E (The Hoard). There are dozens of differences and I am too lazy to list them all.

83F (The Stone Troll). It is stated to be transcribed from printer's typescript and is different from the version in ATB (1962) only by one minor change of punctuation. But there are two more changes between this version and the versions in LR and ATB (1965).
F49: And knew > And he knew
F54: Donor > Doner

94C (The Mewlips).
C13/C29: Merlock mountains > Merlock Mountains

105E (Perry-the-Winkle).
E2: his mournful > a mournful
E3: why should > why must
E21: he came > he went
E46: Bill butcher > Bill Butcher
E60: I’ll take > I’ll carry
E71: and Winkle > and the Winkle
E82: I have > I’ve
E85: And where > But where
E90: go away > ride away
E101: troll > Troll

121C, D (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil). 121C & D are stated to be transcribed respectively from Oxford Magazine (1934) and the first printing of ATB (1962), both of which are unavailable to me. But there are several differences between 121C and the Oxford Magazine version given in ATB (2014), and between 121D and ATB (1965).
C1/D1: [colon] > [semicolon]
D21: again, where > again where
C22/D24: fair Goldberry > young Goldberry
D25: On > on
D32: Ha! Tom Bombadil, what > Ha, Tom Bombadil! What
D116: in buttercups > with buttercups

179 (Cat).
4: and cream > or cream
22: they are > they be

This is strange, since the other 3 poems (Bombadil Goes Boating, The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon, The Last Ship) appear to have adapted the 1962 text directly from ATB (2014) files, and repeat the typos there https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... t_id=57005#forumpost57005 (Correction: when I referred to 1962 text in that comment, they are actually the text in 1965 and 1978 US editions), which are already included in the official Addenda and Corrigenda.


Errors only found in ebook

6.95. In the following editor's note, "not" should be in small caps.

24C.17, 132.49, 134D.37, 134G.105, 140A.39, 141A.121, 141B.73, 141D.33, 141E.49, 175D.101 (and dozens more). The stanza breaks are lost in the kindle edition. In the print version they are at the page breaks so it can be hard to tell if a stanza break is intended. But crosscheck with other versions and publications would confirm it. Many such mistakes have been introduced in later resets of LR, ATB etc, both in prints and ebooks. A similar mistake is confusing "-" at line breaks, thus "Ninny-hammers" and "Elven-tongues" in LR.

Monoceros, and Reginhardus remain unpublished, and the absence of [these] are explained.

What's the explanation for their absence, if you can summarise?

DMRoberts wrote:

Monoceros, and Reginhardus remain unpublished, and the absence of [these] are explained.

What's the explanation for their absence, if you can summarise?

"Reginhardus, the Fox and Monoceros, the Unicorn unfortunately are known only by their titles; their texts have not been located."

OK, thanks. That had seemed a likely explanation when I heard they weren't included, but good to get it confirmed.

Here are some additional errata that I just found. I hope this is the right place for these.

1. Collected Poems, vol.ii, pg. 527, #71 Enigmata Saxonica Nuper Inventa Duo:
Line 5 reads 'is wylla geworht, waeter glaes-hluttor'. This should be 'is wylla geworht, wæter glæs-hluttor'. The character æ (æsc) is correctly used in other lines.

2. The Hobbit, Illustrated by the Author (Hardback, Harper Collins, 2023)
Foreward to the 50th Anniversary Edition, pg. xvii:
a. jörõinni > jörðinni
b. There is also an error in the Greek which I cannot reproduce. The word ένα is spelled wrongly as ευα, but with a breve over the epsilon.

Something like this?

ε̆υα > ένα

(albeit with better alignment - unicode combining characters doing their best...)

This is interesting, the quotes have been wrong since 1987 US 50th Anniversary Edition. That leads me to investigate other quoted translations...



"In einer Höhle in der Erde da lebte ein Hobbit", "Dans un trou vivait un hobbit", and "Kolossa maan sisällä asui hobitti" do appear in the official translations in respective countries.

"Í holu i jörõinni bjó hobbi". This is probably quoted from the 1978 Icelandic translation by Úlfur Ragnarsson and Karl Ágúst Úlfsson (https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/w ... php?page=Hobbit+Icelandic ) . I can't find its first sentence online to confirm, but as you said, jörõinni should definitely be jörðinni. i and hobbi are also in question. When you google the phrase, you can find the correct form might be "Í holu í jörðinni bjó hobbiti". The new Icelandic translation has "Í jarðholu nokkurri bjó hobbiti".

"In una caverna sorto terra viveva uno hobbit". sorto should be sotto. It is correct in the 1987 50th Anniversary Edition and 2002 Annotated Hobbit, but becomes sorto in later reprints.

"Mέσα στή γή, σέ μιά τϱύπα, ζoῦσε ϰάπoτε [ε˘]υα χóμπιτ". "γή" is "γῆ" in the 1987 50th Anniversary Edition. (Also note "M" in current digital edition uses Latin letter instead of Greek letter.) But 1987 Edition still mistakes [ε˘]υα for ἕνα.

zionius wrote:

This is interesting, the quotes have been wrong since 1987 US 50th Anniversary Edition.

...

Thanks for looking into this! Is there any way of getting these errata fixed in new editions? Do you have any connections with publishers?

The admins have connections with HarperCollins and I think they will pass things posted here to the publisher. The problem is most publishers act very slowly on fixing errors (and HarperCollins is one of the slowest afaik, In A Game of Thrones Visery II had been listed as the "son" of Aegon III for 20 years after it was fixed to "brother" in the US edition), and new typos will emerge during the process. Since many of these errors have been there for many decades and don't affect the sales in any measurable way, I don't think the publisher would be very eager to fix them.