The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition

My brother and his wife were kind enough to gift this edition of TH to me for Christmas.

http://amzn.com/0544174224

I love the illustrations, the hardcover is soft to the touch and the title and Tolkien's name are embossed in gold along with flora and fauna on the front cover (and the book's spine too).

Looking at the illustrations last night reminded me how important our individual interpretations of Tolkien's descriptions are, and how we can all bring something unique to these stories (that is, of course, as long as we remain true to the book   ).

This would be a great addition to any Tolkien lover's collection, it would also be a wonderful gift for a child, maybe something that their parents can read them at bed time. (My parents read to me at bed time when I was a child, but nothing ever like The Hobbit.)

Hopefully this edition of The Hobbit will light a spark in a child's imagination, instead of PJ's films.   

nifty!

A bit too childish, if that's the right way of putting it, for my taste, but I liked this one. It feels nice.

That looks very nice. I actually think that the "childish" style of the pictures fits the story and Tolkien's own illustrations for The Hobbit quite nicely (though I can certainly understand why others might disagree). Out of curiosity, does this edition include Tolkien's drawings as well? I've always thought those add a lot to the story and that something is lost by editions, usually cheap ones, that exclude them. Though that might not be the case here since this one has its own illustrations.

It doesn't have Tolkien's drawings, then again would the Alan Lee illustrated version retain the original drawings? It does have Thror's map and the map of Wilderland, however.

I do feel that the illustrations help to reinforce the idea that this is first and foremost a fairy-story and they kind of remind me of the illustrations that are in some editions of the Narnia books.

I wondered the same thing about the Alan Lee edition when I was posting earlier, but unfortunately I've never read that one.

I have the annotated hobbit which contains Tolkiens original illustrations as well as a selection of illustrations form various versions around the world- I scanned some the illustrations and pasted them ages ago- Eru knows where though.   

I bought the annotated version Petty mentions, it's great :)And I've also got the one illustrated by Alan Lee, Eldo, and no, it does not include Tolkien's drawings. I think that's for the better, to be honest. The mix of styles might be disruptive. I like those illustrations a lot, Bungo, maybe I'll buy it myself and make a little collection of Hobbit books

I want to get History of the Hobbit, but it must be out of print   because I can only find expensive/used copies.

edit: They do have it for kindle on amazon, but it says "v. 1" (volume 1 I'm assuming) in the product description, but the cover of the kindle book says "One-Volume Edition"

I have both the Annotated Hobbit and The History of The Hobbit (the one volume edition-it's slightly revised from the 2 volume 2007 edition with around 70 pages of new info and corrections)

Both are DEFINITELY worth getting!

The Annotated Hobbit is packed with over 150 different illustrations (albeit mainly b/w on the margins) extensive annotations listing all the different changes between the 1937,1951 and 1966 editons, a few previous unpublished poems by Tolkien and a 12 page alternative version of The Quest For Erebor (different to the one in UFT), it's also a rather nifty book in of itself.

The History of The Hobbit will make you reconsider The Hobbit in ways you have never thought of (and in my mind is perhaps the best book on Tolkien I have ever read).

Both are available to buy from Amazon, I got them for around £15-£20 each (brand new) but they are relatively niche books with quite small print runs so are perhaps more pricier than expected.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0007440820

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-Tolkien/dp/0007137273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389044021&sr=1-1&keywords=the+annotated+hobbit

(They were cheaper when I got them, I've never seen them for sale in the shops).

I don't actually currently own a standard edition of The Hobbit (in a ideal world I'd like Tolkiens, Caitlin's and Lee's   ) so I'll probably buy one soon (I favour Caitlin's illustrations over Lee's-suit's the tone of the book better).

My copies of The Illustrated Silmarillion by Ted Nasmith (2004) and Roots and Branches by Tom Shippey arrived earlier so I think I'm ok on Tolkien books at the moment anyway.

The author of The History of The Hobbit has a weblog, he frequently posts on Tolkien related info and news:

http://sacnoths.blogspot.co.uk/


I'm sure Elthir has much more to say on this subject...

Maybe we should start a general Tolkien book thread? I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to collecting...

Start one in the Silmarillion section, that would be a good place for such a thread

Just bragging here but in contrary to my earlier post I ended up picking up a brand new copy of the Alan Lee Hardback Hobbit for £8 (less than half price)-it had been reduced for damage, but the store collegues didn't notice it was the other copy on the shelf that was damaged (though both were marked) I convineitly forgot to mention this when paying for it...

I agree with a point Eldo raised, Lee's work is marvelous but it feels kinda 'high style' and too mythical for The Hobbit in my eyes, whatever Tolkien's latter feelings The Hobbit is really a fairy story at heart, Lee's imagery seems too serious for me, Caitlin though perhaps more 'basic' brings a sense of whimsy Lee's edition lacks.

And Jackson doesn't half copy Lee...

I like Lees illustrations for LOTR and Tolkiens illustrations for The Hobbit.

Mrs Figg wrote:I like Lees illustrations for LOTR and Tolkiens illustrations for The Hobbit.

I think that's a good way of putting it.

Lee does mystical sort of fairy drawings very well, but they do lack a certain whimsy.  That's not a criticism, and his style fits certain stories like a glove.  There are portions of LOTR that I think benefit from a little more solid of a style, but all in all Lee's LOTR illustrations are some of the best out there.  But I do think that Tolkien's drawings for The Hobbit capture the feel of that story much better, even if they aren't as technically accomplished.

Hey, at least the hoods are the right colour!

Pauline Bayne's