THE HOBBIT1ST/1ST US PRINTING, 1938J.R.R. TOLKIENPLEASE VIEW OUR EBAY STORE WHICH IS NEATLY ORGANIZED FOR A GREAT BROWSING EXPERIENCE! Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938First Edition, First printing, Second State A very good copy of the FIRST printing, in the Second state dated 1938 to the title page with the "sitting elf" playing the flute. (First Printings in the first state have a "bowing elf").The book is in the original slightly grubby/rubbed oatmeal cloth boards. The book has sharp corners with one tiny tip bump, and no edgewear. The boards have been rebacked with the original cloth laid down and as such the binding is very tight and quite readable. The front and rear end papers are in clean condition with no owner names, no bookstore stamps and no inscriptions, and depicts the map of the “Wilderland” to the front and rear end papers. The internal pages are overall clean with only some occasional intermittent handling marks, no stains, no creased or bent pages, and no foxing. A few pages with archival repairs to fully intact tears and/or missing corner tips. The book maintains all the lovely black and white illustrations and 3 of the 4 color plates (the book has been discounted due to the one color plate missing across page 118). This copy has the sitting elf playing the flute on the title page which makes this book a True edition, First printing in the second state. A clean example and delightful to read. Please see images.A fantastic entry level copy of the first US printing of one of the most important books of the 20th century, having been discounted for its faults but still remains a clean and solid, readable copy.This book is part of a collection. Please see our stores for other rare book listings.Please note the cost to ship includes full insurance. Insurance is calculated at the USPS rate of $1.00 per $100 of value and will show up as a handling fee on your invoice but is only the cost to ensure your book in transit.