By oxonianus
Ballantine 58th impression
20 Dec, 2022
2022-12-20 1:18:38 PM UTC
2022-12-20 1:18:38 PM UTC
Does anyone have a copy of the 58th impression (March 1976) of the Ballantine Hobbit? This would be one of the run with the front cover with black titling on white background above a detail of Tolkien's colour illustration 'Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves'.
Either the 58th or the 59th (June 1976) are the impression in which the text was entirely reset. The most significant aspect of this resetting is that an entire sentence dropped out. This is on page 68, lines 25–6 in earlier impressions (about 2/3 of the way down the page): ‘They seized Bilbo and the dwarves and hurried them along.’ This immediately precedes the sentence beginning 'It was deep, deep, dark, such...' The sentence is lacking from either the 58th or 59th until the Ballantine Hobbit was reset in 1988.
If someone has the 58th, can you tell me whether the 'They seized...' sentence is present or absent in that impression? It would be nice to clear that up for an article I'm working on about the Ballantine edition(s). Fingers crossed!
Either the 58th or the 59th (June 1976) are the impression in which the text was entirely reset. The most significant aspect of this resetting is that an entire sentence dropped out. This is on page 68, lines 25–6 in earlier impressions (about 2/3 of the way down the page): ‘They seized Bilbo and the dwarves and hurried them along.’ This immediately precedes the sentence beginning 'It was deep, deep, dark, such...' The sentence is lacking from either the 58th or 59th until the Ballantine Hobbit was reset in 1988.
If someone has the 58th, can you tell me whether the 'They seized...' sentence is present or absent in that impression? It would be nice to clear that up for an article I'm working on about the Ballantine edition(s). Fingers crossed!