For the first time ever, a beautiful slipcased 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
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…
Written for J.R.R. Tolkien·s own children, The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937. With a beautiful cover design, a handful of black & white drawings and two maps by the author himself, the book became an instant success and was reprinted shortly afterwards with five colour plates..
Tolkien·s own selection of finished paintings and drawings have become
inseparable from his
text, adorning editions ofr The Hobbit for more than 85 years. But the
published art has afforded only a glimpse of Tolkien·s creative process, and
many additional sketches, coloured drawings and maps – although exhibited and
published elsewhere – have never appeared within the pages of The Hobbit.
In this unique enhanced edition of Tolkien·s enchanting classic tale, the full panoply of his art is reproduced for the first time, presenting more than 50 illustrations to accompany Bilbo Baggins on his adventure ‘there and back again’
