The Hobbit Enhanced Edition: an E-book for Tolkien lovers (18.09.12 by Pieter Collier) - Comments

The Hobbit was an instant success when it was first published in 1937, and 75 years later tolkien's epic tale of hobbits, elves, dwarves, goblins, magic and adventure has lost none of its appeal. Now it has been released as an enhanced ebook and is now ready for a new series of readers, who enjoy reading books in digital format. (Ok, to be fair it is around since last year, but time to announce it for The Hobbit 75th anniversary!)

Exclusive to this Enhanced version of the eBook are recently discovered audio recordings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and high-resolution colour images of all of tolkien's illustrations for the book, many of which are also included in their earlier black-and-white versions and can be revealed by a simple swipe of the screen.

A Foreword by Christopher Tolkien, complete with illustrations including manuscript pages and unused drawings, examines the writing of the book.

This Enhanced eBook also includes recently discovered audio recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien reading excerpts from The Hobbit, including the dwarves' party song, the account of their capture by the three trolls, and Bilbo Baggins's creepy encounter with the hideous Gollum. Only this is a reason to buy the enhanced edition!

For those who have read the book before, or for first timers, the new enhanced version offers the premier experience with this classic by adding audio and video extras within the story. 

What is so different about this edition?

Right from the beginning you know you're in a different type of e-book. This enhanced edition contains a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, best known as the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work like The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth. Other enhancements throughout the book include a readings by the author and all of tolkien's own drawings and full-color illustrations, including images from the original manuscript, the dust jacket design and all famous and some lesser known art by Tolkien.

What about the audio parts?

You will especially love to hear J.R.R. Tolkien sing 'Chips the glasses and crack the plates' in Chapter 1, read the famous 'Riddles in the Dark' and an impressive 'Roast Mutton'. To hear the professor singing a song from the text really gives the reader a feel for his creative vision. You can hear each audio enhancement as you read the book, or go to the Images, Illustrations And Audio tab in the Table of Contents to hear several in a row. What would anyone else want more?

Some final words

All in all, although the enhanced e-book isn't bursting with special features and additions to the original text, "The Hobbit: Enhanced Edition" is a cool way to brush up on your storyline before the movie adaption arrives and get an added bonus of extras such as audio and illustrations. I kind of love this edition, even though I believe the graphics could have been a bit sharper, but the additional audio makes up for that big time. You would actually have to pay me a lot to complain about this book! In an age where you can get anything from Middle-earth games to Lord of the Rings online worlds to roam in it is nice to have a digital edition of The Hobbit around, however as usual I will prefer the real book, but like all the tiny candy that is available inside the enhanced edition!

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