J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit. 70th Anniversary Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 978-0618968633. Hardcover, 320pp., $25.00. Reviewed by Jason Fisher, in Mythprint: The Monthly Bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, Volume 45:5–6 #313–14 (April/May 2008): 3–4.

❧ Let me begin by clarifying my ambit in the present review. At seventy years’ remove, I need hardly comment on Tolkien’s charming chronicle of the adventures of one Bilbo Baggins of Bag-End – many such reviews have been published – e.g., “A Delightfully Imaginative Journey,” in The New York Times, 1938. 1 Rather, the purpose of this review is to evaluate the particulars of the 70th Anniversary Edition published by Houghton Mifflin last September. The new edition is available on its own or as part of a boxed set with John Rateliff’s two-volume History of The Hobbit (see my review of Rateliff in Mythlore 101/102: 206-12). The question at hand: for those of us who already own a copy – or several! – of The Hobbit, is the 70th Anniversary Edition worthwhile? Since the novel is familiar to all of us, my primary concern is the paratext of this edition of The Hobbit. The paratext includes elements such as the cover, the introductory matter, illustrations, appendant material, and so forth. It is really only by such elements that most new editions of Tolkien’s works distinguish themselves. I have before me several copies of The Hobbit for comparison: the 70th Anniversary Edition, the 50th Anniversary Edition, the Revised Edition of Douglas Anderson’s Annotated Hobbit, and a third edition / 32nd printing of the tried and true Houghton Mifflin edition that has served us all so well over the years. Fell free to retrieve your own copies and follow along! The first differences strike one immediately: the cover is the familiar one designed by Tolkien himself in blue, green, and black – and red! Originally, Tolkien wanted the Sun on the front cover as well as Smaug on the back cover to be colored red; however, publishing costs in the late 1930’s precluded the use of a fourth color. In the 70the Anniversary Edition, Tolkien’s original colors have been restored to us at last. At the same time, the cover is not without changes: some of the text on the front cover and spine has been redrawn. Also, the book is taller and thinner than earlier editions of the same design (e.g., the third edition). Fortunately, the design is printed on a reinforced, half-laminated dust-jacket which should stand up to the ravages of time better than earlier ones have done. Opening the book, one finds the maps printed on the endpapers, as Tolkien intended, and in the correct order (unlike some early editions where the maps were 1

Eaton, Anne. “A Delightfully Imaginative Journey.” New York Times 13 March 1938. http://www.nytimes.com/1938/03/13/books/tolkien-hobbit.html.

reversed). Tolkien wanted a dash of red here as well, particularly in marking the location of the Secret Entrance to the Lonely Mountain on Thror’s Map, and the new edition delivers. The maps are reproduced in a very nice antiqued sepia tone, imbuing them with the look of genuine artifacts. Turning to p. v, we come to the Preface. I had hoped to find an altogether new preface to this edition; however, the one printed here is, in fact, the same preface Christopher Tolkien wrote for the 50th Anniversary Edition – twenty years ago! And it isn’t even the entire preface. The reprinted edit is only about half the length of the original and reproduces none of its eight illustrations (which included two manuscript pages). I can think of absolutely no reason for the very disappointing decision to print only part of this preface. Continuing to turn the pages, one finds a table of contents, followed by a table of illustrations. The latter is new to this edition and is pretty useful. Following these, we encounter Douglas A. Anderson’s Note on the Text. Again, this note is not new. It was written to accompany the 2001 Houghton Mifflin reissue (with the cover illustration by Peter Sís) – the first time the text of The Hobbit was put into a digital format. In fact, Anderson identified a handful of additional errors subsequent to this edition, which he corrected in the revised edition of The Annotated Hobbit (2002). As near as I can tell, the text of the 70th Anniversary Edition is the same as this 2002 text – that is to say, it is the most up-to-date and correct text we have of the novel, but the same text has been in print for the past five years. Finally, we reach p. 1 and find Tolkien’s own introductory words. These are the remarks beginning, “This is a story of long ago,” and continuing with a few notes on the words and runes Tolkien has employed in the novel. This description is associated with the third edition Hobbit, replacing the earlier introductory note of the second edition which began, “In this reprint several minor inaccuracies […] have been corrected.” In a 70th Anniversary Edition, it would have been nice to see both sets of comments, if only for the sake of completeness. It is only in the original note, for instance, that Tolkien alludes to the Red Book of Westmarch; only in the second that he explains the choice of dwarves over dwarfs. Reading through the rest of this edition, we come now and again upon the illustrations. Earlier editions of The Hobbit contained varying numbers of these (eight, all black and white, in my third edition copy), but fewer than Tolkien originally produced. The 50th Anniversary Edition betters this with thirteen illustrations, five of them in color. The 70th adds one more, in black and white but with the glossy finish of the color reproductions: the “rare Mirkwood piece” (as described in Houghton Mifflin’s marketing collateral). 2 The quality of the black and white illustrations is questionable; they appear to 2

See also Plate 88 in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (p. 96), and Plate VII in John D. Rateliff’s The History of The Hobbit.

be poorer than desirable photographic reproductions. The worst of them is “The Elvenking’s Gate” (p. 160). The quality of the color plates, on the other hand, is clearly superior to those in the 50th Anniversary Edition. Finally, there is one additional appendage, new to editions of The Hobbit. In a smaller type, and following a short introductory passage (author unknown), we find the first chapter of The Lord of the Rings, “A Long-Expected Party.” The inclusion of this chapter seems strange to me. The target market of any anniversary edition of The Hobbit should need no such teaser for its sequel. One can only presume it is aimed at first-time readers, but even if so, it feels like no more than filler. Finally, a remark on the boards, binding, and paper used in this edition. As some readers will know, the 50th Anniversary Edition was slipcased, bound in faux leather, and printed on heavier paper. One would have expected a similar treatment for this edition; however, the paper in particular is rather thin and poor, with a texture resembling newsprint, considerable bleed-through of the text, and apparent artifacts of photographic reproduction. Only the color plates receive the treatment they deserve. The boards are nice, in black faux cloth, with the spine stamped in gold. The binding is glued, not sewn in individual signatures, which is again unfortunate. The book’s design and materials match those of The History of The Hobbit – except that the latter has its spines stamped in bronze. Taken in sum, the overall impression is less that of a unique and durable celebration of the novel, and more of opportunism on the part of the publisher. I do not fault Houghton Mifflin for that! It is logical to celebrate a 70th Anniversary, as well as to crossmarket The History of The Hobbit, with a new edition. But to return to the question with which I opened this review: is this new 70th Anniversary Edition a copy that admirers should purchase? The text and all its appendages are not new, and only the cover, maps, and one internal illustration have been updated – very slightly. So, to all but the most serious completists, I must sadly report that the answer is no. For those of us who are spared, let us hope that its 100th Anniversary – or better still, its eleventy-first – will be marked with an edition “of special magnificence”, to paraphrase the good professor.