The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Second Edition, 15th Printing Original Dust Jacket

The Hobbit, or There and Back Againis achildren\'s fantasynovel by the English authorJ. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for theCarnegie Medaland awarded a prize from theNew York Herald Tribunefor best juvenile fiction. It is recognized as a classic in children\'s literature and is one of thebest-selling books of all time, with over 100 million copies sold.

The Hobbitis set inMiddle-earthand follows home-lovingBilbo Baggins, the titularhobbitwho joins the wizardGandalfand the thirteendwarvesofThorin\'s Companyon aquestto reclaim the dwarves\' home and treasure from the dragonSmaug. Bilbo\'s journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory.

It was not Tolkien’s original ambition to become a popular author. Instead, he was interested inphilology, particularly the ancient languages and epic literature of the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. After graduating from Oxford he served in the First World War, then returned to the UK to take up a post as lecturer in Philology, first at Leeds and then at Oxford.

As early as 1918 Tolkien was devising the elaborate mythology and languages that would form the basis for the Middle Earth of his novels, but his first fantasy book didn’t begin to take shape until the late 1920s, when he told his young sons the stories that would becomeThe Hobbit. These were first written down in the early 30s, and in 1936 a former student recommended the story to the publishers Allen & Unwin, who agreed to publish the book following an excited review from their most suitable reader, Stanley Unwin’s ten-year-old son Rayner.