The Hobbit by Tolkien, J. R. R - 1937

London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1937. First edition. Very Good. First printing of this iconic work of children's literature, introducing characters that would return in Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. A Very Good copy of the book, lacking the scarce dust jacket. Book with a small white smudge on the front board and a short 1/3 inch closed tear in the cloth at the base of the spine. Otherwise complete and clean internally, as issued, with all illustrations and with the map endpapers. An affordable copy, in the publisher's decorative green cloth, stamped in blue, and for my money preferable to any rebound copy by a fair margin. The Hobbit follows the exploits of Bilbo Baggins as he joins a company of Dwarves set on retaking their former kingdom from the dragon Smaug. A brilliant piece of writing, for any genre. Just 1500 copies were originally printed, though the book has now been translated into fifty languages and sold a hundred million copies worldwide. "Though all is marvelous, nothing is arbitrary: all the inhabitants of Wilderland seem to have the same unquestionable right to their existence as those of our own world, though the fortunate child who meets them will have no notion-and his unlearned elders not much more-of the deep sources in our blood and tradition from which they spring." (C. S. Lewis for the Times Literary Supplement, Oct., 1937). Very Good.