I'd have guessed buckram. Shows what I know. But it's not paper; Hammond says 'bound in black cloth over boards'.
(Bibliography; p.51)

This book was listed for sale for years by an Oxfordshire bookshop. The owner asked me who SRT might be; he thought it might have been S.R.T.O. (Simonne) d'Ardenne, but I replied I wasn't so sure. (I'm pretty sure the signature isn't Tolkien's, either. Since when did he sign his name with only one 'R'?)

As it happens, a glance at the Scull-Hammond Chronology shows that Tolkien didn't become d'Ardenne's supervisor until 1932. So, it ain't her!

Well of course the good folk at Puffin were quite in the right (or so they thought!) After all; they corrected Tolkien's spelling after consulting the Oxford English Dictionary.

Now, can anyone tell us what was Tolkien's reply to that? (don't all rush at once).

- Though, when it comes to paperback editions of The Hobbit, my number one choice has to be the Puffin Hobbit (1961) with the glorious wrap-around cover illustration by Pauline Baynes. A wonderful piece of work!

This is the title of the re-listing - see if you can spot the mistake:

Tolkien SIGNED UK BPTrue1st J R R Most Rare! The Hobbit

- stoopid people!