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News from Bree
spymaster@theonering.net
Jan 29 2015, 3:04pm
Post #1 of 10
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Author George R.R. Martin to gift first edition "Hobbit" to Texas University
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Any Texas residents who live near the A&M University may want mark February 27th on their calendar - particularly those of you who are fans of author George R.R. Martin (the creator of the Game of Thrones universe).
The University has announced that he will stopping by on that date for a ceremony beginning at 11 A.M., which will see him presenting a first edition copy of Professor Tolkien's The Hobbit as a gift to the university. It will be the University Libraries' 5 millionth acquisition.
The first edition of The Hobbit, many of you surely know, is Tolkien's version of the story before certain changes were made to bring it more in line with The Lord of the Rings - chief of which was the different version of the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter.
Before presenting the book to the University, Martin will read a few pages from Tolkien's novel. Both the campus community and the public are invited to the ceremony, free of charge. At the present time, it does not appear that the author will be doing and meet & greet or autograph sessions with fans. We will update this story if that changes.
For more information on the event, contact Patrick Zinn at 979-845-4265 or pzinn@library.tamu.edu.
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geordie
Tol Eressea
Jan 29 2015, 9:54pm
Post #2 of 10
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- though I'm surprised he chose to give one of Tolkien's books rather than one of his own. I wonder why?
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(and, the bibliophile in me is wondering; is it a 1st UK ed or a 1st US? Dustwrapper or not? And which printing? )
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Me85
Rivendell
Jan 29 2015, 11:39pm
Post #3 of 10
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Tolkien's 1st edition books are very rare and very expensive and therefore difficult to get. Martins book are not. So i think it would be kind of silly for him to give one of his own books if the university could easily get one themselves.
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ElendilTheShort
Gondor
Jan 30 2015, 10:55am
Post #4 of 10
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I don't think you will ever read anything written on these boards
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by anyone with a better collection of Tolkien's works than geordie. So telling him the value of any example of Tolkien's work is like teaching your grandmother how to suck eggses.
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geordie
Tol Eressea
Jan 30 2015, 5:35pm
Post #5 of 10
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geordie
Tol Eressea
Jan 31 2015, 9:26am
Post #6 of 10
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It's true that bookdealers ask high prices for 1st eds. of Tolkien's works -
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- but there are other ways of guaging the value of an object, whether a book or something else. I think a signed copy of Martin's books would have been a nice gesture, as he is the one who created them; he's the one who put in the work. These books have worth today, outside of any monetary value, and will gain in worth in years to come.
But still; it's good of Mr. Martin to give the university a present of a first edition Hobbit. Which takes me back to my previous wonderings - will it be an Allen & Unwin copy? There were four printings of this edition, between 1937 and 1946 - or one of the Houghton Mifflin copies; 5,000 printed in and after 1938? We shall have to wait and see.
Oh - and will it have a dust-wrapper? Very important, this; apart from any consideration of the book's value in dollars and cents. Tolkien designed the binding of the UK edition, and also the dust-wrapper; it has become something of a design icon. And even though the US publishers made their own (rather plain) binding, they did make a colourful splash of their dust-wrapper, by using two of Tolkien's paintings.
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geordie
Tol Eressea
Jan 31 2015, 7:03pm
Post #8 of 10
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It's good to know where one of those 5,000 copies ended up
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- - and it's good to see that it's still with the family, after all these years. I'm sorry to hear that the dust-wrapper has not been preserved, but that's usually the way; they get torn, and thrown away; or sometimes just lost. It is possible to buy a facsimile dust-wrapper; for example here (I've not dealt with this firm, so I don't know what they are like)
http://www.facsimiledustjackets.com/pages/books/4147/j-r-r-tolkien/hobbit-the
As I was saying, dust-wrappers tended to get lost. Rayner Unwin's copy of TH came up for sale at auction last year; no d/w. I saw the Bodleian Library's copy in an exhibition a year or so ago. D/w? no! Shocking! 
Those two quotes on the US d/w are both from reviews of TH, each of them by C S Lewis. The one on the front cover is from The Times of 8th October 1937; the one on the back cover is also from The Times, dated 2nd October 1937. Just Lewis helping out his old chum.
TH was also reviewed in the Horn Book magazine - I have a run of all six issues for 1938; here's a link to a page where one of these issues is mentioned:
http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/tolkien-book-store/001197.htm
Now I have to ask, Squire - does your copy of the US 1st ed. have a bowing hobbit on the title page, or a flute player?
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geordie
Tol Eressea
Jan 16 2017, 11:30am
Post #10 of 10
(890 views)
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Excellent - thanks for that.//
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= Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.
