Greetings, collectors!
I have found an early U.S. second edition copy of The Hobbit which conforms to 14th printings in all respects except that there is no frontispiece. It is still entirely likely that it is a 14th, but from what I understand, a 15th would have no frontispiece while 14ths reportedly do have one. If someone could give me an outline of any differences between the two impressions, just so I can ascertain for certain exactly what I've got here, I'd very much appreciate it!
If you have my email, please tag me... and/or respond here, or fill out the contact form on my website - Thank'ee.



-K

The 14th Impression was printed in the UK and has the endpaper maps printed in black and red.

The 15th Impresion was printed in the US and has the endpaper maps in black only. The text is pretty much identical because it was a photographic reproduction of the 14th Impression. There is a differnce on the last page of text though - see below.

There is a good article on American Hobbits at Wikipedia:

Early American editions of The Hobbit

Oh crumbs... I wrote a reply to this a few days back, but I guess the server kicked it. Here's a quick attempt at reproducing it...

Thanks for the reply!
That wiki was the source used to come to the conclusion that it was a 14th - I should have qualified my statement to say that it conforms in all measurable respects... it's library bound. All the identifiers are missing, altered, or not unique to a 14th - except for page 315. It's not my usual collection purchase, but I just couldn't leave it sitting there...

Like I said, I'm pretty sure... but my thought was to compare it to the next printing, which is known not to have a frontispiece, and if no inconsistencies exist I would feel certain. Perhaps an American printer is credited in 15-17, or the measurement on page 315 is definitive..? Anybody know?

Thanks