Bonhams Online Auction

TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
The Hobbit or There and Back Again, FIRST EDITION, SECOND IMPRESSION, half-title, 13 plates and illustrations (4 colour), advertisement leaf at end, map endpapers by the author printed in red and black, light spotting, publisher's pictorial light green cloth, spine toned and rubbed at ends [cf. Hammond A3(a) and p.13], 8vo, George Allen & Unwin, [1937, but 1938]
Footnotes

The first edition, second impression was dated 1937 but actually published in January 1938. It saw the first appearance of four additional colour illustrations by Tolkien. Some 2300 copies were printed, although 423 unbound copies were destroyed at the binders during the Blitz in 1940.

TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
The Hobbit or There and Back Again, THIRD EDITION, BOOK CLUB EDITION, publisher's yellow cloth (soiling), pictorial dust-jacket printed in orange and white (frayed with a few minor losses at extremities of spine, corners and upper edges), 8vo, The Children's Book Club, [1942]
Footnotes

VERY RARE DUST-JACKET issued with the first book club edition of Tolkien's Hobbit, of which 3000 copies were printed during the war using sheets from the third impression. The front flap has an advertisement for BBC Radio ("Britain Calls the World... the British radio sticks to the facts"), and the front panel a most unusual depiction of Bilbo Baggins. Writing to Stanley Unwin in 1945 Tolkien commented "Surely the paper wasted on that hideous dust-cover could have been better used".

TOLKIEN (J.R.R.)
[The Lord of the Rings:] The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSIONS of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Return of the Ring', second impression of 'The Two Towers', each with folding map printed in red and black, publisher's red cloth with spines lettered in gilt ('Fellowship' with light mildew on lower cover), DUST-JACKETS, all priced 21s net (dust-jacket spines darkened with some abrasions and fraying not affecting text, 'Fellowship' with a few light stains to spine, 'Return' with two small splash marks on fron, 'Two Towers' with a few light stains to spine and some spotting on front) [cf. Hammond A5a-i-iii], 8vo, George Allen & Unwin, [1954-1955]
Footnotes

Provenance: John McIlwaine, ownership name and date (1954 or 1955) on front free endpapers.