Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780007266470
Format: Import
ISBN number: 0007266472
Label: HarperCollins Publishing houses Ltd
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishing houses Ltd
Page Count: 480
Printing Date: March 03, 2008
Publishing house: HarperCollins Publishing houses Ltd
Sale Popularity Level: 1870188
Studio: HarperCollins Publishing houses Ltd
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Rated by buyers -
What a great set of books ! Well worth the money !
A must for any L.O.T.R. fan !
Rated by buyers -
This three volume set gives new insight into the world of The Hobbit. The very first book is The Hobbit as you know it and the second two are a annotated copy of J.R.R. Tolkiens' original manuscript. It is extremely interesting to see the work as it evolved. This is a must buy for any Tolkien fan!
Rated by buyers -
I have to admit that on my very first glance at this, I was expecting disappointment - because, while it followed the format of Christopher Tolkien's ten-volume "History of Middle Earth," it was not BY that esteemed Professor of Anglo-Saxon, and therefore could not be as good. Believe me, I got over it quickly! Rateliff, who repeatedly mentions his debt to the younger Tolkiens, as well as to Tolkien scholars like Tom Shippey, has done a superb job of tracking down how Mr. Baggins started out at his doorstep in the 1930s with a wizard named Bladorthin and a dwarf-king named Gandalf (a dwarf by that name does appear in Sturlasson's "Voluspa," the source of most of Tolkien's dwarf names) and ended up back at Bag End somewhat wiser and richer in the 1960s with a wizard named Gandalf and the memory of a heroic dwarf-king named Thorin.
The history of "The Hobbit" itself is fascinating, the history of how it interwove with the developing mythology of "Lord of the Rings" and the "Silmarillion" even more so. But there are also detached analytical essays scattered throughout, on subjects like the goblins/orcs, Beorn, the Great Eagles and Tolkien's attitude towards spiders, which are unexpected bonuses, as well as the revelation that Gollum originally was not only more well-spoken but somewhat nicer than he later became.
One very minor niggle (unaccompanied by leaf): in his essay on Beorn, Rateliff mentions that the Middle Earth equivalent of Grizzly Adams was of indefinite but probably immense age, and in fact was a "leftover from an older world" -- but then died shortly after Bilbo's adventure, according to LOTR. Rateliff doesn't quite explain this, but the explanation may lie in his suggestion that Beorn's were-bear nature was inflicted on him by a curse, which not only made him turn into a bear under stress but made him effectively immortal, and that this curse was lifted by his heroic actions at the Battle of Five Armies. If the were-bear curse was lifted (presumably by the Valar or by Eru Himself), it seems likely he lost the immortality as a sidebar and then lived out a normal human lifetime, although that doesn't seem to jibe with Tolkien's throwaway line in "The Hobbit" that the men of Beorn's line for generations afterwards kept the ability to shapeshift into bears.
A reviewer noted that some of the early drafts have been unfortunately lost to history. Rateliff mentions that the thrifty Tolkien saved on paper by writing on unused portions of blue exam booklets. The paper used in such booklets is acidic and of fairly minimal quality -- Rateliff pointed out instances in which it has turned brown, making Tolkien's handwritten text even harder to deceipher. It seems likely that some of the earlier papers (including the famous blank page on which he wrote: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit") may no longer be with us because they literally crumbled away.
Anyway, I strongly recommend Rateliff's set, not only for would-be Tolkien scholars like myself, but for those who simply enjoyed their very first expose to Tolkien, be it via reading "The Hobbit" or by seeing Peter Jackson's movie versions, and would like to know more.
Rated by buyers -
This boxed set will be appreciated by any hard-core Tolkien fan. It contains a two-volume set about the History of The Hobbit, and the 2007 edition of the novel. All three books are beautifully designed and bound.
The Hobbit novel is the very first American edition to feature Tolkien's colour illustrations made for the book, the latest round of typographic corrections, and an introduction by Christopher Tolkien. The endpapers are colour reproductions of Thorin's map of the Lonely Mountain, another very first for an American edition. And the dust jacket is produced with Tolkien's original design in mind with a blue sun and dragon, and pink tint on the mountains, which were removed from the original design due to money concerns.
Fans of The Hobbit have heard for decades now how Tolkien rewrote the book after completion of the Lord of the Rings, in order to bring the two stories in line with each other. Until now, only people lucky enough to find a copy of the British very first edition have been able to know how extensive the changes were. The History of the Hobbit not only recreates the original draft of the story, but points out how the story evolved and changed. For example, the ring was, originally, just a magic ring and not the One Ring. In fact, the ruling rings didn't even exist in Tolkien's history of the Middle Earth at the time The Hobbit was very first written. The Hobbit wasn't even conceived as a part of the Tolkien universe, but was intended to stand apart and alone. J. R. R. Tolkien changed his mind about that when The Hobbit proved a best seller.
The author gives The Hobbit the same extensive treatment that Christopher Tolkien gave The Lord of the Rings in his History of Middle Earth series. Multiple versions of the novel are given, with extensive annotations, and footnotes to the footnotes. The only drawback to the History is that the author is frequently referring to obscure and out of print books and documents that the majority of readers will not have acess to, without reprinting the illustrations or articles referred to. And the double layer of annotations and footnotes are hard to follow. But the History can be enjoyed without digging all the way through the notes.
The book presents a shocker, too. In the 1960's J. R. R. Tolkien set about rewriting The Hobbit in the style of The Lord of the Rings. What survives of this endeavor is reprinted for the reader's enlightenment. I won't spoil the surprise by saying anything further.
This set is an excellent gift for any Lord of the Rings or Hobbit fan.
Rated by buyers -
This three volume box set is a truly magical compilation. By publishing all of Tolkien's original manuscripts, Rateliff allows Tolkien's devoted fans to see how one of the greatest children's stories ever came into being. In addition, the third volume, a newly updated 70th anniversary volume of The Hobbit, is a welcome part of any collector's library.
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