The Hobbit — 1978 Tenth Printing of the Houghton Mifflin Collector’s Edition in Original Slipcase

The Green American Collector’s Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. The tenth printing, February 1978, of the Collector’s Edition first published in October 1973, illustrated by Tolkien and housed in its original publisher’s slipcase.

The copyright page bears the printer’s designation “H 10”, identifying this impression. It also gives ISBN 0-395-17711-1, Library of Congress catalogue card number 73-8769 and “Printed in the U.S.A.” The 1966 copyright date refers to the revised text; it is not the publication date of this Collector’s Edition.

Tolkien’s Illustrations, Maps and Decorative Design

This edition uses the setting of the revised American text, with five of Tolkien’s colour illustrations added. The drawings and maps are reproduced in black and green, and the text pages have a fine green decorative border. Thror’s Map appears near the beginning and the Map of Wilderland at the rear. The photographed colour plate shows Bilbo and the eagle above the mountains.

The dark green textured simulated-leather binding is decorated in gold and red. A broad runic border surrounds Tolkien’s mountain-and-forest design on the front board, while the spine carries the title and runic lettering between red rules. The rear board is plain. All three page edges are marbled in green, and the plain green endpapers complement the printed illustrations and maps.

Original Matching Slipcase

The book retains its original dark green slipcase, covered in matching textured material. The rectangular pictorial label reproduces Tolkien’s mountain-and-forest design in green, black and yellow, with the title above and the author’s name below. Both the book and its publisher’s slipcase are included.

Condition

An attractive, well-preserved copy with bright gold and red decoration. There is some rubbing to the extremities and spine ends, most noticeable at the head of the spine, together with a few small marks to the green covering. The photographed title, text, colour illustration and map openings are clean and clear. The green endpapers are present, and the marbled page edges retain their decorative colour.

The matching slipcase has light surface rubbing and minor wear to its edges and corners. Its pictorial label remains complete and legible. The photographs show the slipcase from all sides before the book, binding and illustrated interior.

A handsome 1970s printing of the classic green Collector’s Edition, complete with its original matching slipcase.

Bibliographical reference: Wayne G. Hammond and Douglas A. Anderson, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, pp. 47–48.

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