The Hobbit, First Four First Editions Hardcover - 1937

London: George Allen and Unwin, 1937. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. We are thrilled to offer the most unique set of books in our 21 years as a specialist Tolkien dealer, the first four editions of the Hobbit in the original near fine, unrestored condition. Only once before have all four been available. See our website for the links. Allen & Unwin 1st/1st 1937, 1st/2nd 1937, 1st/3rd 1942 and 1st/4th 1946 printings. If you are seriously interested in such a purchase, you already know their importance and publishing history. 1st/1st Hobbits, if they appear, now exceed £230,000, but most of these have restoration seriously reducing their value. The 2nd,3rd and 4th with unrestored dustjackets once appeared fairly regularly, but we have not seen them for many years, except with 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. Please, serious inquiries only. We are one the leading and largest specialty Tolkien dealers with over 21 years. We ONLY deal in Tolkien so have to get it right every time, unlike general book dealers. Take some time to research our company Festival Art and Books, our events, Festival in the Shire and our founder and Tolkien expert. Mark D. Faith. Please ask about our free The Tolkien Collectors Guide a monthly newsletter on Tolkien book collecting. We were recently asked whether investors have taken over the Tolkien books market? While prices are rising at every level due to high demand and scarce supply, nearly all our high end customers are equally keen Tolkien fans. They collect what they can afford just like the rest of us! The more famous insist we keep their Tolkien fandom confidential! When we started our business 20 years client discretion was paramount! Nobody then wished to come out of the Tolkien fan closet.