The Hobbit: Illustrated by the Author

Product Information

For the first time ever, a special enhanced edition of the enchanting prelude to The Lord of the Rings, illustrated throughout with over 50 sketches, drawings, paintings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and with the complete text printed in two colours.

Velmeran wrote:I hope they stop the Illustrated by the Author line here though, as they already had to stretch the definition of an illustration pretty thin for The Silmarillion and I don't think there is enough material left to fill another book after this release. Por fim, Tolkien mostra-se habilidoso na técnica de produzir tempo e espaço com palavras. “O Hobbit” é um conto de aventura e viagem, e para descrever uma viagem é preciso fazer com que a distância entre os diferentes cenários deixe-se sentir por mais do que palavras indicativas de lapso temporal (“três dias”) ou espacial (“trinta milhas”). Part I largely focuses upon the history of the dwarves and the initial hazards that they encounter during their single-minded quest, chiefly battling orcs in the Misty Mountains and finishing with their tribulations with the giant spiders of the vast and ominous Mirkwood forest.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. » In the first of the two *The Hobbit* entries [sub-titled: *Into The Wilderness*], a more youthful Bilbo Baggins is craftily crow-barred by Gandalf into embarking upon a great adventure (Hobbits *despise* adventures!) and by serving as a burglar for a grumbly troupe of thirteen dwarves, all of whom are determined to reclaim their lost family treasure from the Evil dragon, Smaug; however, the actual battle with Smaug at the Lonely Mountain will have to wait until Part II [to be entitled: *Into the Fire*] is released.

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug’s left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! In 1967, six years after legendary editor Ursula Nordstrom had nurtured his creative direction and four years after his iconic Where the Wild Things Are, 39-year-old Maurice Sendak was commissioned to illustrate a 30th anniversary edition of The Hobbit. But the project fell through, leaving behind only a single surviving drawing, which Open Culture unearthed. O inglês de “O Hobbit” é relativamente simples; embora o autor utilize alguns termos arcaicos, sua sintaxe é clara e o vocabulário pode ser dominado logo (sugiro a consulta ao “Google Imagens” para os nomes de acidentes geográficos). The return of Mr. Bilbo Baggins created quite a disturbance, both under the Hill and over the Hill, and across the Water; it was a great deal more than a nine days’ wonder.» This new edition of The Hobbit follows similar editions of Tolkien’s other books featuring the author’s hand-drawn maps and artwork. There’s The Lord of the Rings Illustrated, which came out in 2021 and The Silmarillion Illustrated, which arrived last fall.When Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves embark upon a dangerous quest to reclaim the hoard of gold stolen from them by the evil dragon Smaug, Gandalf the wizard suggests an unlikely accomplice: Bilbo Baggins, an unassuming Hobbit dwelling in peaceful Hobbiton. Speaking about this, Chris Smith from HarperCollins said: “ The tale of the little hobbit on a big adventure was first read by the professor to his children as part of their winter reads, using his ‘home manuscript’ of the story. Imagine hearing the tale told to you by its author, spun from golden yarn as he wove the adventure for you, thread by thread? Christopher Tolkien recalls that special time in his foreword included in this new illustrated edition of The Hobbit, and leading Tolkien scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull add that, in this ‘home manuscript’, Tolkien would have been free to illustrate his story using any medium he wanted: coloured pencil, chalk, crayon, ink and washes, a far cry from the restrictions imposed by the publisher on the illustrations printed in the published book. With better than a baker's dozen of little folks in starring roles the temptation to over-incorporate moments of comic relief [vignettes of Gimli] must have rivaled the gnawing urge which only The One Ring could normally generate. While some tasteful levity fell well within the bounds of a palatable script, I did actually breathe a sigh of relief once I realized that few such incidents were forthcoming.

Now, in this new edition, readers will at last be able to enjoy the full panoply of J.R.R. Tolkien’s paintings, drawings, maps and designs that richly capture the enchanted world of Bilbo Baggins.’ Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole in Bag End by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Although quite reluctant to take part in this quest, Bilbo surprises even himself by his resourcefulness and his skill as a burglar! consisting of essentially Poems and Stories + Bilbo’s Last Song + fold-out maps—all her Tolkien maps!

The tale of the little hobbit on a big adventure was first read by the professor to his children as part of their winter “reads,” using his “home manuscript” of the story. Imagine hearing the tale told to you by its author, spun from golden yarn as he wove the adventure for you thread by thread? Christopher Tolkien recalls that special time in his foreword included in this new illustrated edition of The Hobbit, and leading Tolkien scholars Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull add that, in this “home manuscript”, Tolkien would have been free to illustrate his story using any medium he wanted to: colored pencil, chalk, crayon, ink and washes, a far cry from the restrictions imposed by the publisher on the illustrations printed in the published book.