The Hobbit - Hardcover

Tolkien, J. R. R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 026110330X ISBN 13: 9780261103306

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997

Synopsis

Sumptuous, oversized hardback edition of the beloved children's classic, fully illustrated with over 60 watercolour and pencil illustrations by award-winning artist, Alan Lee. J.R.R. Tolkien's great classic work, The Hobbit, celebrated its 60th year of publication (1937) with a gorgeous illustrated edition by artist Alan Lee, winner of the Kate Greenaway medal for illustration, and creator of the fabulously successful Centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. Containing 22 full colour illustrations depicting key scenes from this all-time classic (scenes such as Gollum and Bilbo, The Wargs, Smaug the Dragon and The Battle of the Five Armies), this beautifully designed volume also includes a wealth of integrated pencil drawings which demonstrate perfectly Alan's genius at work. Alan Lee's work on this book, as well as the illustrated Lord of the Rings, led to him being approached by Peter Jackson to join the film trilogy as Conceptual Artist. The same artistic vision, present in his beautiful paintings and drawings, played a major role in the look of the films, and his work received the ultimate accolade with an Academy Award for Best Art Direction on The Return of the King.

About this title

Review

"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."

The hobbit-hole in question belongs to one Bilbo Baggins, an upstanding member of a "little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves." He is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased when sitting by his own fire with a pipe, a glass of good beer, and a meal to look forward to. Certainly this particular hobbit is the last person one would expect to see set off on a hazardous journey; indeed, when Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, "looking for someone to share in an adventure," Baggins fervently wishes the wizard elsewhere. No such luck, however; soon 13 fortune-seeking dwarves have arrived on the hobbit's doorstep in search of a burglar, and before he can even grab his hat or an umbrella, Bilbo Baggins is swept out his door and into a dangerous adventure.

The dwarves' goal is to return to their ancestral home in the Lonely Mountains and reclaim a stolen fortune from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, they and their reluctant companion meet giant spiders, hostile elves, ravening wolves--and, most perilous of all, a subterranean creature named Gollum from whom Bilbo wins a magical ring in a riddling contest. It is from this life-or-death game in the dark that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, would eventually spring. Though The Hobbit is lighter in tone than the trilogy that follows, it has, like Bilbo Baggins himself, unexpected iron at its core. Don't be fooled by its fairy-tale demeanor; this is very much a story for adults, though older children will enjoy it, too. By the time Bilbo returns to his comfortable hobbit-hole, he is a different person altogether, well primed for the bigger adventures to come--and so is the reader. --Alix Wilber

Review

Scenes from The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

Luke Evans as Bard and Orlando Bloom as Legolas in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, in theatres December 17, 2014. (cr. Mark Pokorny)

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Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Luke Evans as Bard in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. (cr. Mark Pokorny)

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Smaug the Dragon attacks Lake Town in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

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  A scene from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

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Luke Evans as Bard in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

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Martin Freeman as Bilbo in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 026110330X
• ISBN 13: 9780261103306
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304