Hopefully they do a decent job of it, especially given how many years late it is!

I did get confirmation that the edition is real and at the printers, but I don't have any images to share yet.

Here is the official page from Harper Collins:

https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/978000 ... t-facsimile-first-edition

This sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it nearly 30 years later.
The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937 with a print run of 1,500 copies. With a beautiful cover design and nearly a dozen black & white drawings by the author himself, the book proved to be popular and was reprinted shortly afterwards, and history was already being made.

The scarcity of the first edition has resulted in copies commanding huge prices, way beyond the reach of most Tolkien fans. In addition, subsequent changes to the text - particularly those to chapter five when Tolkien decided to expand the text to marry it up to events in The Lord of the Rings - mean that the opportunity to read the book in its original form and format has become quite difficult.

This special printing reprints the first edition, so that Tolkien’s story may be enjoyed in its original form.

Product Details

ISBN: 9780007440832
ISBN 10: 0007440839
Imprint: Harper Collins
On Sale: 22/09/2016
Format: Hardcover 80th anniversary edition
Trimsize: 13.500
Pages: 312
List Price: £25.00

At list price £25, I can't see this being anything other than a normal HC hardback i.e. having pretty average production values.

"Sumptous gift set" doesn't fill me with hope.

BH

"This sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it nearly 30 years later"

I hope they do not really think that Tolkien re-edited The Hobbit nearly 30 years later, he made a few changes before 1967, including the second edition changes, published in 1951.

I also hope that it is not printed in China, it was originally printed in Woking in the UK.

I just confirmation - this will be a single book (the facsimile edition) in a nice slipcase.

Sounds liked they are describing something like this

eBay Item #201638320320

Tapuvae (Chris) wrote:
Sounds liked they are describing something like this

eBay Item #201638320320

I hope not. That is actually not a bad edition (and was good value at the £4 they sold them off at), but a Chinese printed, ultra-white-papered edition like that is a long way from being a facsimile (even if it had the original text).

I guess we will wait and see, might be OK!

I have just received a marketing emailing from HarperCollins, about the facsimile Hobbit, using the image below, which is nothing like the original dustjacket. Very unhappy at the moment with HarperCollins.

Rubbish Hobbit Dustjacket

This Hobbit release has been wittled down rather concerningly over time to the point that they don't seem to have any enthusiasm for it.

The original blurb that was circulating at least had some pride about it

"This sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it to become the one enjoyed by readers since 1951." Amazon received this description from HC and the description is still present on many HC websites including HCAustralia

And now officially reads on .co.uk....

"This special printing reprints the first edition, so that readers of all ages not just children between the ages of 5 and 9’, as Rayner Unwin famously declared in his report on the original submission can finally enjoy Tolkien’s story as it originally appeared."

The picture is dreadful. The wording is very telling, replica in the first blurb which means an exact copy is now gone and replaced with 'reprints the first edition' which can be stretched to mean almost anything. and yet the email has replica in it.

To cut a long story short. HC you suck!