For the first time ever a special enhanced edition of the enchanting prelude to The Lord of
the Rings illustrated throughout with over 50 sketches drawings paintings and maps by J. R.
R. Tolkien himself and with the complete text printed in two colours. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit
who enjoys a comfortable unambitious life rarely travelling further than the pantry of his
hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a
company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected
journey 'there and back again'. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the
Magnificent a large and very dangerous dragon... Written for J.R.R. Tolkien's own children
The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937. With a beautiful cover design a handful of
black & white drawings and two maps by the author himself the book became an instant success
and was reprinted shortly afterwards with five colour plates. Tolkien's own selection of
finished paintings and drawings have become inseparable from his text adorning editions of The
Hobbit for more than 85 years. But the published art has afforded only a glimpse of Tolkien's
creative process and many additional sketches coloured drawings and maps - although exhibited
and published elsewhere - have never appeared within the pages of The Hobbit . In this unique
enhanced edition of Tolkien's enchanting classic tale the full panoply of his art is
reproduced for the first time presenting more than 50 illustrations to accompany Bilbo Baggins
on his adventure 'there and back again'.
