a b Steele, Felicia Jean (2006). "Dreaming of dragons: Tolkien's impact on Heaney's Beowulf". Mythlore (95/96) . Retrieved 3 December 2017. a b c d e Sullivan, C. W. (1996). "High Fantasy". In Hunt, Peter (ed.). International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Taylor & Francis. pp. 309–310. ISBN 978-0-415-08856-5. The Hobbit (1937) • The Lord of the Rings ( The Fellowship of the Ring [1954] • The Two Towers [1954] • The Return of the King [1955]) • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book [1962] • The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle [1967] Uffindell, Matthew; Passey, Chris (May 1984). "Playing The Game" (jpg). Crash. 1 (4): 43 . Retrieved 6 July 2008.

The Hobbits' numbers dwindled, and their stature became progressively smaller after the Fourth Age. However, they are sometimes spoken of in the present tense, and the prologue "Concerning Hobbits" in The Lord of the Rings states that they have survived into Tolkien's day. [1] Types of hobbitsBeetz, Kirk H., ed. (1996). Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction Analysis. Vol.8 volume set. Beacham Publishers. p.1924. ISBN 978-0-933833-42-5. At the beginning of The Hobbit ... Bilbo Baggins seems little more than a conservative but good-natured innocent. The History of The Hobbit is a two-volume study of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit. It was first published by HarperCollins in 2007. It contains Tolkien's unpublished drafts of the novel, with commentary by John D. Rateliff. [1] It details Tolkien's various revisions to The Hobbit, including abandoned revisions for the unpublished third edition of the work, intended for 1960, as well as previously unpublished original maps and illustrations drawn by Tolkien. [2]

McDonald, R. Andrew; Whetter, K. S. (2006). " 'In the hilt is fame': resonances of medieval swords and sword-lore in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings". Mythlore (95/96) . Retrieved 3 December 2017. As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters and their interactions. He portrays Bilbo as a modern anachronism exploring an essentially antique world. Bilbo is able to negotiate and interact within this antique world because language and tradition make connections between the two worlds. For example, Gollum's riddles are taken from old historical sources, while those of Bilbo come from modern nursery books. It is the form of the riddle game, familiar to both, which allows Gollum and Bilbo to engage each other, rather than the content of the riddles themselves. This idea of a superficial contrast between characters' individual linguistic style, tone and sphere of interest, leading to an understanding of the deeper unity between the ancient and modern, is a recurring theme in The Hobbit. [33]Phase 4 is Tolkien's rewritten version of the novel, ten years after its publication, in 1947. Phase 5 is his 1960 rewriting of Chapters 1 and 2, attempting to explain Gandalf's selection of Bilbo as the story's burglar. [3] Other materials [ edit ] The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its successor, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that "grew in the telling", and many characters and story threads in the published text are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads".

See also: English-language editions of The Hobbit Dustcover of the first edition of The Hobbit, taken from a design by the author This book also includes many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings. The overcoming of greed and selfishness has been seen as the central moral of the story. [102] Whilst greed is a recurring theme in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters' simple desire for food (be it trolls eating dwarves or dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for beautiful objects, such as gold and jewels, [103] it is only by the Arkenstone's influence upon Thorin that greed, and its attendant vices "coveting" and "malignancy", come fully to the fore in the story and provide the moral crux of the tale. Bilbo steals the Arkenstone—a most ancient relic of the dwarves—and attempts to ransom it to Thorin for peace. However, Thorin turns on the Hobbit as a traitor, disregarding all the promises and "at your services" he had previously bestowed. [104] In the end Bilbo gives up the precious stone and most of his share of the treasure to help those in greater need. Tolkien also explores the motif of jewels that inspire intense greed that corrupts those who covet them in the Silmarillion, and there are connections between the words "Arkenstone" and " Silmaril" in Tolkien's invented etymologies. [105] Stevens, David; Stevens, Carol (2008). "The Hobbit". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). J. R. R. Tolkien. Chelsea House. pp.17–26. ISBN 978-1-60413-146-8. In one volume for the first time, this revised and updated examination of how J.R.R. Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit includes his complete unpublished draft version of the story, together with notes and illustrations by Tolkien himself.

From the publisher

Tolkien's correspondence and publisher's records show that he was involved in the design and illustration of the entire book. All elements were the subject of considerable correspondence and fussing over by Tolkien. Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: "In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin... detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite and exasperatingly precise... I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention." [65] Cirth runes and the English letter values assigned to them by Tolkien, [66] used in several of his original illustrations and designs for The Hobbit The big project, which I've been working on for years and will finally be sending to the publisher near the end of this year, is a book called The History of The Hobbit. It's rather along the lines of Christopher Tolkien's editions that make up the History of Middle-Earth series (which I highly recommend if you haven't read them): an edition of the original manuscript of The Hobbit with extensive commentary on how Mr. Baggins' story fits into Tolkien's legendarium. It's a big book filled with the entire text of Tolkien's first draft, along with short essays about everything from rings of invisibility or Tolkien's spiders to a detailed account of just when Tolkien wrote the book (which can actually be reconstructed from available evidence to within a month or two on either end). I hope people will like it when it finally sees the light of day. [2] Revised one-volume edition [ edit | edit source ] Jones, Nicolette (30 April 2004). "What exactly is a children's book?". The Times. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011 . Retrieved 15 June 2008. Hammond, Wayne G.; Anderson, Douglas A. (1993). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books. ISBN 0-938768-42-5. Faraci, Mary (2002). " 'I wish to speak' (Tolkien's voice in his Beowulf essay)". In Chance, Jane (ed.). Tolkien the Medievalist. Routledge. pp.58–59. ISBN 978-0-415-28944-3.

The Annotated Hobbit · The History of The Hobbit · The Nature of Middle-earth · The Fall of Númenor This invaluable companion to one of the most treasured stories in English literature offers fascinating new insights to those who have grown up with this enchanting tale, and will delight those who are about to enter Bilbo’s round door for the first time. See also [ edit | edit source ]a b Edwards, Owen Dudley (2008). British Children's Fiction in the Second World War. Edinburgh University Press. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-7486-1651-0. As well as reproducing the original version of one of literature's most famous stories, both on its own merits and as the foundation for The Lord of the Rings, this new book includes many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings.