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This deluxe hardcover edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy contains a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, a reset text incorporating the most up-to-date corrections, and all of Tolkien’s own drawings and full-color illustrations, including the rare “Mirkwood” piece.
J.R.R. Tolkien's own description for the original edition: "If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did)—if you do not already know all about these things—much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period. For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise."
J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , and The Silmarillion . His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. Appointed by Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself to the editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion , Unfinished Tales , and The History of Middle-earth .
J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , and The Silmarillion . His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
His mother died when he was only twelve and both he and his brother were made wards of the local priest and sent to King Edward's School, Birmingham, where Tolkien shine in his classical work. After completing a First in English Language and Literature at Oxford, Tolkien married Edith Bratt. He was also commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the battle of the Somme. After the war, he obtained a post on the New English Dictionary and began to write the mythological and legendary cycle which he originally called "The Book of Lost Tales" but which eventually became known as The Silmarillion.
In 1920 Tolkien was appointed Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds which was the beginning of a distinguished academic career culminating with his election as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Meanwhile Tolkien wrote for his children and told them the story of The Hobbit. It was his publisher, Stanley Unwin, who asked for a sequel to The Hobbit and gradually Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, a huge story that took twelve years to complete and which was not published until Tolkien was approaching retirement. After retirement Tolkien and his wife lived near Oxford, but then moved to Bournemouth. Tolkien returned to Oxford after his wife's death in 1971. He died on 2 September 1973 leaving The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.
Author biography courtesy of HarperCollins (UK).
Anonymous
Posted Sat Mar 03 00:00:00 EST 2012
But the enhanced edition is worth the extra buck, which it is I believe only a dollar more. It has recordings of J R R Tolkein reading the dwarves songs such as chip the glassses n crack the plates! & far over the misty mountains cold.
147 out of 184 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I've loved the Hobbit for a long time, and was excited to see an eBook version come out. "Finally, I can read it on my Nook", I thought. I was extremely disappointed in some of the choices of the formatters. Tolkien's illustrations are included, but are reduced to a postage stamp size, for some reason. The Nook screen has a very high resolution, and the illustrations should take advantage of it! The illustrations even look terrible on the tiny iPhone screen. Also, for some reason, the lines of verse are irregularly spaced. Sometimes you'll get 5 stanzas on the screen, sometimes two or three with bizarre spacing. If I'm paying for a product, I expect a professional look and consistent formatting!
125 out of 152 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 EDT 2009
This is a fabulous edition of the Hobbit. We purchased it for our family library. My children loved the illustrations. It is a bit pricy - but a wonderful addition to any collection.
100 out of 130 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Thu Feb 23 00:00:00 EST 2012
The Hobbit as most people know is one of many books that precede The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien. All of the books from the set are my favorite "Go to" books and I keep many of them on my Nook.
That having been said there is nothing enhanced about this version.
The "artwork" by Micheal Hague could have been drawn by a 3 year old. This artist is the one responsible for the ghastly Tolkien Calendars from the last few years.
If someone at the publishing company wants to enhance this book again get rid of Hague and use Alan Lee or John Howe's paintings and drawings. Those are true fans of the literature and know how to do honor to the literary work.
70 out of 101 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The Hobbit (the prelude to the Lord of the Rings) starts out great and never goes downhill from there. When it starts out with a three foot tall person being thrown out of his home with nothing, and coming back the richest person in his country, it will almost always be a great book.
In the beginning a hobbit named Bilbo gets thrown out of his home and goes on an adventure. The following exert is Gandalf the wizard getting Bilbo out the door. "But. ""No time for that!" "But.""No time for that either!" He then goes on a fantastic journey with talking spiders, goblins, greedy elves, and..riddles. That last part may not make sense, but it will when you read it and decide it is an incredible book.
I think it is an occasionally funny, exciting, fantasy genre adventure story. It sprinkles in humor sparingly at good points in the story. It is not a book I would recommend for those below eleven or twelve years of age.
The Hobbit is, in my opinion, an incredible read that should be worth a look from everyone.
The Hobbit is the greatest book I have ever read, and a true classic. If you like The Lord of the Rings movies, you will love this book. When I set it down, I was captivated by its story, and its incredible quality.
56 out of 81 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.While the nook version may have some bugs to work out (and very slight bugs in comparison to many other books might I add) the story is still as magical as it was the first time I read the book. The only "problem" I noticed was that the illustrations would sometimes come in between two consecutive pages, instead of at the end or beginning of a chapter. The illustrations were still fabulous and, for me anyways, did not interrupt the story.
40 out of 48 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2010
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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is truly a magical book that will cheer most people up when they're not in a good mood. A tale concerning small hobbits no more than three feet tall, to cave trolls towering over ten feet, which will swipe you off your feet and into a new world, if you get into it. All the creatures in between include elves, wizards, dwarves, and goblins that according to Tolkien all existed during the past times, after the age of the creation of magic and before the dominion of men. Tolkien describes that the reason for which this magic is lost is because through time, when men grew and spread through middle-earth, men could not use such powers and so those who knew magic became extinct.
The story starts off with a description of how hobbits lived during this era, and about a particular hobbit that would become a hero, Bilbo Baggins. Hobbits were three-foot tall creatures that look like men but have a thick layer of hair beneath their feet to walk bare-footed, and they didn't do anything unexpected or out of the ordinary. So to make the long story short, a wizard and thirteen dwarves set out to Bilbo's house and convince him to commence a long journey through dangerous lands around middle-earth, and he has no choice but to agree. So they fight goblins and trolls and converse with a dragon to find a treasure.
This story is more about the journey and the bonding of the characters throughout the experience, than about wanting and finding the treasure. It's a wonderful tale about friendship and learning through experiences to be successful. The style of writing the author offers the reader in this book is uniquely captivating because he writes very simple sentences, yet his intended ideas are perfectly well written and so his simplicity also keeps the reader interested rather than reading a line ten times because you can't make sense of it. The pacing of the book is moderate (neither fast nor slow), and because it is a journey the setting constantly changes and varies throughout. There is a perfect amount of magic that's enough to have one believing in the story and not have the reader thinking of excuses as to how certain things cannot possibly be true.
The Hobbit is a wonderful novel where the world of magic and reality collide and to some may seem truly spectacular. In the end, this book helps us appreciate life as a whole and also to move on in life. It also advises us to try new things in life because you never know something for sure unless you try it. Instead of sticking with the unexpected and blinding ourselves with ignorance, we can open our closed-minds and instead of dismissing a challenge, we can accept it and maybe we can change the way we live, or even the mood that we wake up in each morning, opening ourselves to the simplicity of life. So yes, I do recommend this magnificent title.
38 out of 55 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Thu Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2011
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That was great. I enjoyed every minute reading this. J.R Tolkien is one of the best !!!!
35 out of 44 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2012
All of the people who rate this as a bad book are too stupid to understand it. If it had been written in crayon and fewer words, maybe you would understand it better. Try "Curious George," it may be more your intelligence level. Have a nice day.
32 out of 177 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sat Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2010
The Hobbit is such a great book! Tolkien's writing is incredible! He makes it seem as if you are in the story with the characters, thinking and feeling what they are! It is the best fantasy novel I have ever read! I can't wait to move on to the Lord of the Rings!
27 out of 39 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2012
I'm in eighth grade, and I was truly fascinated by this book. It has many captivating moments that keep your eyes glued to the screen of your nook. I recommend this book to any teenager who is a great reader (and quite nerdy perhaps as you will be saying things like "Orcrist" and " Glamdring" with your friends), I also would recommend this to any adult who has a knack for fantasy creatures, and likes descriptive settings. I truly enjoyed this book and I am excited to read the next book in The Lord of the Rings series.
21 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2010
The Hobbit, also known as There and Back Again, is a classic prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and connects the information given in the Lord of the Rings with an awe inspiring-story. The book highlights the journey of the then young Bilbo Baggins, who is tricked by the wizard Gandalf to host a party for a band of thirteen dwarves. Gandalf then proposes to Bilbo and the Dwarves to go on a quest to find the Lonely Mountain, a refuge for the evil dragon Smaug. The mountain was not always this way; it was once a rich dwarf stronghold, full of gold and other riches. The confused Bilbo accepts the offer, and finds himself on the most exciting journey he will ever take. This book is written in a more understandable way than the Lord of the Rings. Strange and improvised words are less dense, leading to a faster; more useable reading experience. You can't go wrong with this book. It tells the classic tale of a common, modest being venturing out of his comfort zone and finding himself in vast riches.
17 out of 29 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2012
The Hobbit is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings titles illustrating the long talked about adventures of Frodo's father, Bilbo Baggins. Although the title doesn't make huge connections to the original Lord of the Rings tales, it does explain how the Baggins' got the magical ring and it explains everything that made Bilbo what he is today. If none of this made sense, that's okay. Even if you have no knowledge of the Lord of the Rings, this book still beautifully tells an amazing tale.
The story begins in Bilbo home town where he still lives. The book explains very well that Hobbits (the race of Bilbo) don't much care for adventures and would rather be safe at home. So when Gandalf the wizard visits Bilbo and practically pushes Bilbo into an adventure, it doesn't sit well with Bilbo. It seems within a day he is swooped away and on a horse to help Gandalf and the dwarves on a grand adventure that he never actually agreed to. The dwarves (13 of them) are a group a relatives that plan to reclaim the lost gold of Thorin's (the lead dwarf) father's former kingdom which is now inhabited by a mighty dragon.
The story takes countless twists and turns throughout the book. What starts as a simple adventure at the beginning of the tale, soon turns into much more. What you get in the end is a truly satisfying tale. If you love stories of great adventures, this is the book for you. Whether it's goblins, giant wolves, elves, and even dragons, this book truly grasps the imagination.
Bilbo is an especially interesting character to follow. As the adventure goes on you see him change and become braver and more heroic. In the beginning, the dwarves see him as a pain to carry along with them. But then you see Bilbo become much more to the group which makes the book even better. Bilbo is a troubled, scared, and sad hobbit that answers the call to save himself and others which is very interesting to read.
Finally, this book is worthy of being read simply because of J.R.R Tolkien's unique writing style. It is different from today's standard literature and truly is told in a special way. It gives the book it's own feel and brings the fantasy world alive. This book is a must read for all.
13 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Apr 26 00:00:00 EDT 2010
I've always loved this book, since I first read it at the age of five. Twenty-seven years later, I still find it enjoyable, like an old friend who is always dependable. I just read it again last weekend when I was sick with the flu, and it was just as good as the first time around. Tolkien did a wonderful job telling an entertaining story in a marvelous, mystical world that transports one away from the problems of the real world. A definite classic and a highly recommended read for anyone, young and old.
10 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009
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Before there were whispers of a growing shadow or the finding of a perilous ring of power, there was a simple hobbit that lived in a simple hole in the ground. Considerably lighter in tone than the epic of the ring, The Hobbit is a marvelous tale that follows the most unexpected adventures of a most unfortunate hobbit. Bilbo Baggins, accompanied by a companion of dwarves and a wise old wizard, travels across Middle-earth in search of a long lost treasure guarded by a fearsome terror known as Smaug.
10 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Wed Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2012
I love it!
9 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Wed Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2012
AWESOME STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2012
The Hobbit is a great book for people of all ages. As you read this book it will bring you back to a time when life was as simple as good versus evil. Every detail of the world that J.R.R Tolkien creates is brought to life. As challenges arrive, the characters' personalities change and they develop their own unique characteristics and feelings. As I read this book I felt as if I was growing and learning along with the heroes. I liked how the main character Bilbo began as a normal friendly four foot tall and became the heroic thief that risks his life for the sake of his friends.
The Hobbit is just one of those books that you read for hours at a time and still want more. This is one of my favorite books and I would recommend it for any adventurer seeking the thrill of a goblin fight, the terror of a dragon's lair, or the excitement of encountering talking man-eating spiders. The world of the hobbit is truly a well thought out literary treat. Tolkien sows in stories and adventures that are not directly related to Bilbo to give the story more depth. One example of this is when he tells of how Bilbo's relative, a Took, who fought in the Goblin War and invented golf. One of the greatest things about The Hobbit is Tolkien's writing style makes the story sound as if someone is personally telling you a story. The casual way that the author writes in allows the story to come to life and be more realistic.
From cover to cover the mysteries unfold as you learn more of this world of mystery and magic. The quest's sense of urgency forces the reader to want more, but when that last page is finished and all tensions are resolved your life is at ease. Finishing The Hobbit was a self-fulfilling task. It gave me the joy of understanding a world unlike our own. If you want to learn more of how the Lord of the Rings trilogy began or if you just want to leisurely read another feel-good book then The Hobbit is the perfect book for you.
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Wed Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2012
This book is seriously awesome! It was full of action,adventure,and total epicness!
7 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2012
Best book ever reaad it no joke
7 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
This deluxe hardcover edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy contains a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, a reset text incorporating the most up-to-date corrections, and all of Tolkien’s own drawings and full-color illustrations, including the rare “Mirkwood” piece.
J.R.R. Tolkien's own description for the original edition: "If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and...