Hobbit 1st Impression

TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
The Hobbit or There and Back Again, FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, frontispiece and 9 plates or full-page illustrations, map endpapers in red and black by the author (slight soiling), publisher's green cloth, lettered and decorated in dark blue, spine ends slightly bumped, slight soiling along bottom edges, FIRST ISSUE DUST-JACKET after a design by Tolkien, with 'Dodgeson' on rear flap corrected in ink, priced 7s. 6d on front flap, corners slightly creased and chipped, spine ends chipped, small piece at foot of spine (with part of publisher's name) detached but preserved, soiling to top edges of flaps [Hammond A3(a)], 8vo, George Allen & Unwin, 1937
Footnotes

AN UNRESTORED COPY OF THE BOOK THAT INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO MIDDLE-EARTH - THE PIONEERING MISSIONARY GEORGINA GOLLOCK'S COPY, IN THE FIRST ISSUE DUST-JACKET.

The first printing of The Hobbit was issued on 21st September 1937 with a print run of only 1500 copies, and was sold out within months; its immediate success meant that most copies were well read, no doubt contributing to the scarcity on the market of good condition copies in the original dust-jacket.

Provenance: Georgina Anne Gollock (1861-1940), Irish born missionary and writer on Africa, education and womanhood, initialled "G.A.G." on front free endpaper; given by her to the present owner's mother in the year of publication.

Georgina Gollock has begun to receive much more recognition since the publication of a biography by Ian Randall entitled Georgina Gollock: Pioneering Female Missiologist (Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, 2023). Randall describes her as "one of the most influential women in the formative period of twentieth-century World Christianity... she was the first and often only woman in the room", and the CCCW website goes on to say that in the book Gollock "finally becomes visible. Hidden in plain sight, her life of service to the expanding Protestant mission put her in the centre of the major historical developments of the era through to the 1930s. She held major leadership roles in organizations dominated by men... In a colonial context of British imperialism, colonialism, and trusteeism, Georgina Gollock offered a counter-narrative by emphasizing the leadership of men and women in what we now call the Global South" (CCCW website).

Gollock was by family repute a friend of Tolkien. It's not known if she was given the present copy (by Tolkien or someone else) or purchased it, but she certainly wrote her name in it soon after publication since it was in turn given to the current owner's mother at Christmas in 1937, in recognition of some help she received. Gollock would have been 75 years old in 1937, and she died three years later.

Tolkien Letters

TOLKIEN J. R. R.: (1892-1973) English writer, author of the classic fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. T.L.S., J. R. R. Tolkien, one page, 4to, Headington, Oxford, 24th November 1967, to Miss. Karen C. Walker. Tolkien commences his letter by asking 'Am I right in thinking that your mother was Cecile Barbier?' and continues 'I have recently met her sister Marie (who married her cousin and remains Barbier), and one of her daughters'. The author further writes 'I remember your grandfather, Paul Barbier, very well. He was extremely kind to me as a very young man on my first university job. He was a great scholar and a great character, and I remember a good deal about him' and informs his correspondent 'I have been ill for some time and am now very heavily engaged with work of my own, and putting memories of this kind in order actually takes up a good deal of time, and I haven't any to spare at present' although concludes 'But I will jot down things that I remember from time to time and perhaps you would like to jog my memory early next year to see what I have got for you' . Accompanied by the original envelope. Together with a T.L.S. by Tolkien's assistant, Phyllis M. Jenkinson, with her initials ('P.M.J.'), on behalf of the writer, one page, 8vo, Headington, Oxford, 29th February 1968, also to Miss. Karen Walker. Tolkien writes, in part, 'I am afraid I haven't had any time to jot any memories of your grandfather down, as I have had a very disturbing and troubling time.....I cannot see any relief from pressure for some time ahead and I am afraid it is no good my asking you to jog my memory again….but I will keep you in mind.....in case I find some moment'. Accompanied by the original envelope. VG to about EX, 2

Paul Barbier (1873-1947) Professor of French at Leeds University 1903-38 who has been described as 'an exceptional scholar and inspiring teacher as well as an efficient adminstrator'. Barbier was a keen linguist and took a particular interest in words and names which led him to focus on lexicographical studies.