About this Item
We are thrilled to offer the most unique set of books in our 22 years as a specialist Tolkien dealer, the first four editions of the Hobbit in the original very good to near fine, unrestored dust jackets. Only once before have all four been available, by us. See our website for the links. Please note, we are selling these four only as a set, but do have other individual printing copies available. See our other listings of different single copies or please ask. We want to stress the importance of these books is not that the jackets are like new, they are not, but that the have no restoration where most copies that have come up in the last 10 years have. Serious collectors want the real thing and this is the last of them. Allen & Unwin 1st/1st 1937, 1st/2nd 1937, 1st/3rd 1942 and 1st/4th 1946 printings. 1st/1st Hobbits, if they appear, now exceed £290,000, but most of these have some restoration seriously reducing their future value. The 2nd,3rd and 4th with unrestored dustjackets once appeared fairly regularly, but we have not seen them for many years, except with repaired or restored jackets. These go into collections, including legacy libraries and never come out! Regular Tolkien follows and experienced collectors know how rare these now are and will remain so, forever. One of the significant features of the first ten or so printed Hobbits was the text was changed to align it as the prequel to The Lord of the Rings. The first four Hobbits were the original text with gradual modifications until the first printing 1951 2nd edition Hobbit with major changes to chapter five among others. Goblins became Orcs for example. So few of the 1942 dust jackets exist, it was thought for a time they were produced without them due to paper shortages during the war. The 1st/1st Hobbit used no colour illustrations, the 1st/2nd and later used colour. The 3rd and 4th were printed on war-time paper making the books half the thickness, with full sized dustjackets, but the cheap paper made the jackets subject rapid wear and damage especially the 3rd printing. These are just some of the features of the first four. The Hobbit as the authors first book enjoys a much wider collector/investor audience than The Lord of the Rings or his other classic titles making them even more scarce. General first edition collectors add them to modern libraries. J.R.R. Tolkien books are now solidly in the investor asset class of rare literature, not simply passing pop culture. With new films coming and talks of theme parks Tolkien books are poised for new price highs, potentially limitless with unprecedented demand. We can see rare condition sets like these eventually exceeding a million dollars. This is similar to other classic children?s books like the first printings of Alice and Wonderland. We must stress the rarity is the unrestored jacket aspect of these books, not simply that they are the first edition printings. Authentic collectors value original state and the few examples do come on the market have more and more restoration. This only makes these unrestored originals exponentially more valuable. Please note, these may be withdrawn or postpone from sale due to new media interest. We will deliver these to the buyer anywhere in the world, for an added travel fee. Please inquire into additional condition details and more photos. Note, we will hand deliver these books, at cost, anywhere in the world. They are too valuable to ship. Seller Inventory # 002451
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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Hobbit, First Four First Editions, 1937,...
Publisher: Allen and Unwin, London
Publication Date: 1937
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
Edition: 1st Edition
