The Hobbit

Author(s): J R R Tolkien

Sci-fi & Fantasy

The classic bestseller behind this year's biggest movie, this definitive paperback edition features nine illustrations and two maps drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien, and a preface by Christopher Tolkien. 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! The prelude to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century.


Product Information

Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003 and The BBC Big Read Top 21 2003. Shortlisted for BBC Big Read Top 100 2003.

'The Hobbit belongs to a very small class of books which have nothing in common save that each admits us to a world of its own. Its place is with Alice and The Wind in the Willows.' Times Literary Supplement 'One of the best loved characters in English fiction! a marvellous fantasy adventure' Daily Mail 'Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls! an exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax' The Observer

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 50 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

General Fields

  • : 9780261103344
  • : HarperCollins Publishers
  • : Tolkien GB
  • : 0.236
  • : August 1996
  • : 197mm X 130mm
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : J R R Tolkien
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 823.912
  • : very good
  • : 400
  • : FM
  • : 8 b&w illustrations, 5 colour plates