The Hobbit, or There and Back Again was published by George Allen & Unwin, London, on 21 September 1937, in a first printing of 1,500 copies priced at 7s 6d. The book featured Tolkien’s own illustrations (including the dust jacket, colour frontispiece, and black-and-white drawings) and maps. It sold out before Christmas 1937, and Allen & Unwin immediately requested a sequel — which would take Tolkien twelve years to produce as The Lord of the Rings.
The Novel
Bilbo Baggins — a comfortable, respectable hobbit who has never had an adventure — is recruited by the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves (led by Thorin Oakenshield) to serve as their “burglar” on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. The journey takes them through trolls, goblins, Mirkwood Forest, and the Elvenking’s halls before reaching the Mountain.
The novel’s central episode — Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum in the dark beneath the Misty Mountains, and his finding of the magic ring — was the seed from which The Lord of the Rings grew. In the original 1937 text, Gollum willingly offered the ring as a prize; Tolkien rewrote the chapter for the 1951 second edition to accord with the Ring’s nature as revealed in The Lord of the Rings. This revision has become bibliographically significant — the 1937 text is the “original” while the 1951 text is the “canonical” version.
Tolkien’s achievement was to create a fully realised secondary world — with its own geography, languages, history, and peoples — that feels ancient and authentic. The narrator’s voice is avuncular and English (addressing “my dear reader”), but the world he describes has the depth of genuine mythology.
Collecting The Hobbit
First edition (1937, George Allen & Unwin, London): 1,500 copies, priced at 7s 6d.
Identification points:
- “First published in 1937” on the copyright page
- Published by “George Allen & Unwin Ltd”
- Green cloth boards with Tolkien’s artwork stamped on front and spine
- Dust jacket designed by Tolkien (mountains and a dragon)
- The first state has “Dodgeson” (misspelled) in the text
First edition, first impression:
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $100,000–$300,000+
- Near Fine in jacket: $50,000–$100,000
- Without jacket: $10,000–$30,000
- Reading copy without jacket: $3,000–$8,000
First American edition (1938, Houghton Mifflin):
- Fine/Fine in jacket: $10,000–$25,000
- Without jacket: $1,000–$3,000
The dust jacket is the critical element. Tolkien’s artwork — mountains, a moon, a river, trees, and Smaug silhouetted — is iconic. Copies without the jacket lose 70–80% of their value. The jacket is fragile (paper stock of the period) and many were discarded.
Signed copies: Tolkien signed occasionally. Signed first editions are exceptionally rare and valuable: $200,000+. Tolkien bookplates (signed by Tolkien) are sometimes found affixed to later editions: $5,000–$15,000 for the bookplate alone.
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Approximately 2.5× for jacketed copies. Tolkien’s market is among the strongest in all of collecting — driven by the films, institutional demand, and a devoted global collector base.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there different versions of Chapter 5? Yes. The 1937 first edition contains the original version of “Riddles in the Dark” — where Gollum is friendlier and offers the ring as a prize. Tolkien revised this in 1951 to align with The Lord of the Rings. First-edition copies with the original text are bibliographically significant.
Why is this book so expensive? The 1,500-copy first printing, over 85 years of attrition, the fragile dust jacket, and Tolkien’s extraordinary (and still growing) cultural stature combine to create intense demand against severely limited supply.
Is this a children’s book? It was written for children (specifically, for Tolkien’s sons) and maintains a children’s-book narrative voice. But its world-building, linguistic achievement, and mythological depth transcend any age category.