Customer Reviews

The Annotated Hobbit

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Okay, so I say that this is the best way to read The Hobbit. And I am dead serious.

I know that annotated books can be difficult to navigate, filled with useless, pointless, or just plain boring information, and can be grossly oversized. That is not the case here.

So - here's the scoop.

The original story is very nicely presented, with all original illustrations in color when possible, and in black and white elsewhere. The type is nice and clear, very easy to read. (Many cheaper editions are also rather hard on the eyes. Check the print before you buy, folks!)

The illustrations are printed very clearly, and with very good notes on what they are.

And then the annotations - useful, engaging, and very well done. You will WANT to read these. We discover how the book was written, and what was changed between editions. (There were many changes made so that The Hobbit would conform more easily to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) There are fascinating tidbits about Tolkien's life and the experiences that made their way into the story.

The forward tells about the writing of the novel, and the appedices give additional details about the text.

There are also many illustrations from other editions of the book. These are varied, from thought-provoking to not-provoking.

And the book is not too big. Some editions are simply too big to be read, but this book is reasonably sized so that you can actually READ IT! In fact, I have not read any other edition of The Hobbit for years, since the original annotated version came out.

The new edition is very much worthwhile. Enjoy!

This newly published, annotated version of THE HOBBIT is excellent for fans of the book. It may be TMI ("too much information") for the first-time reader. The text of THE HOBBIT settles in the center of the book while Doug Anderson's notations appear in the outer margins. At times it's a bit busy - but there's always fascinating reading! Tolkien fans are sure to get excited over this one.

Doug Anderson includes lots of sources in his notes. He quotes Tolkien's own letters, other fairy tales and legends that may have inspired Tolkien, as well as previous versions of the section he's noting. The Gollum section ("Riddles in the Dark") is interesting. Tolkien did some tinkering with the original Gollum story as its follow-up (LORD OF THE RINGS) was taking shape. Seems that George Lucas is not the only person who's revised previously released work! Tolkien was his predecessor.

Also interesting are the many black and white illustrations that Anderson includes, many from foreign editions of THE HOBBIT. Some of the art is hilarious, as it does not resemble Tolkien's characters at all! There is a nice color section of illustrations in the center of the book.

THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT is a handsome, interesting book to own if you're a fan of Bilbo and his adventures with the dwarves (or dwarfs? That's covered in the book as well!)

This version of the Hobbit is a pleasure to long-time fans but will also serve new readers well. Anderson released the original "Annotated Hobbit" years ago but this new format with the annotations in the column most often directly next to the orginal book text is supurb.

Included are Hobbit illustrations around the word, a rich addition, but the real joy of this book is learning background and details about The Hobbit, author J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord Of The Rings. At times the footnotes are scholarly and at other times they are amusing gems.

Anderson has compared all of Tolkien's revisions and has researched the 'whys' 'hows' and 'whens' that helps reveal to reader the meaning of the text and the personality of the author.

My favorites are anecdotes about Tolkien's personal life that involve his family and personal history. They are facinating and at times touching.

WIthout rambling on too much, I can confidently recommend this version of "The Hobbit" as the best available.

`The Annotated Hobbit', annotated by bookseller Douglas A. Anderson is published by J.R.R. Tolkien's American publisher, Houghton Mifflin (important because it means the cover of this book uses the same art as the cover of the most popular hard-covered American edition of the Hobbit, published in the 1960's).

Let me be perfectly clear that this is first and foremost a review of the Annotation, not of the novel, `The Hobbit' itself. I have an almost reverential respect for the original novel, having bought my first copy of this work on a cold February day in 1965 in the Lehigh University bookstore. I began reading it on the bus on the way home from my college classes at about 1:00 PM, and simply could not put it down. I finished reading it at about 8:30 that evening. The experience is not unlike some cinematic versions of experiences like Dorothy's opening the door of her Kansas house to step out onto the grass of Oz. I am totally unsurprised by a statement in this annotation that says that the entire first page of `The Hobbit' has been reproduced in `Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'. There are few more magical or evocative openings to novels I have read in my whole life. And, while I can appreciate that there are adult readers, my Hemingway loving uncle being one of them, who simply `don't get it', I am often driven to the point of dispair when I can't interest young readers or listeners in `The Hobbit'. Like `Winnie the Pooh' and `Alice in Wonderland', I really think these are books designed much more to bring back memories of childhood in adults than to engage young readers. And oh how much I enjoy reading `The Hobbit' aloud!

But back to this Annotation'. Like similar annotations to works of fiction such as `Alice in Wonderland' and the Arthur Conan Doyle stories of Sherlock Holmes, there are four different subjects for annotation. One is internal; where names and events are cross-referenced to other parts of the work to explain, elaborate, resolve, or point out inconsistencies. The second is external, where correspondences can be made to sources or, in the case of Conan Doyle or Carroll, events of the day that may have found their way into the fiction. The third is references to the author's unpublished notes and letters. Tolkien's works should be rich sources for all three types of annotation, as the world of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings' is based on an enormous body of Norse, Celtic, and Teutonic mythology, fable, and epic literature. Also, standing behind `The Hobbit' is the great events of `The Lord of the Rings', `The Silmarillion', and over twelve volumes of Tolkien writings compiled and annotated by Christopher Tolkien.

So why are the annotations in this volume so sparse? The author certainly does not limit himself to only one kind of annotation. There are examples of all three references to other Tolkien works, notes and letters, and other sources. The author does give us lots of illustrations of scenes from `The Hobbit' published in translations of the work from around the world. There are also a few illustrations from books that certainly influenced Tolkien, such as `The Marvelous Land of Snergs'. The one thing that all these illustrations tell me is that, on average, they are not very good, oriented primarily towards a children's audience rather than some of the more heroic art familiar to us from modern fantasy illustrators. It seems to me a lost opportunity also to not include Tolkien's own color illustrations for `The Hobbit', as they appeared on the very first `Tolkien' calendar in, I believe 1966 or 1967.

I will give just a few illustrations of where I think the author may have disappointed his readers. By far the most interesting character in `The Hobbit' next to Bilbo and Gandalf is Smaug. And yet, the book has next to nothing to say about the fictional antecedents of that delightfully cagey old worm. One of my only fond memories of the rather insipid cartoon version of `The Hobbit' done several decades ago is the gravely voice of Smaug done by Paladin himself, Richard Boone. If you couldn't get John Huston, then Boone was certainly the next best thing. To the whole conversation between Bilbo and Smaug, there are but two notes regarding Smaug and dragons. At least we get a reference about the source of Smaug's name, a primitive Germanic verb, `smugan' meaning to squeeze through a hole. Tolkien confessed that this was `a low philological jest'. In the wider story culminating in the great events of `The Lord of the Rings' coming at the end of the Third Age, it is much more important to Gandalf to remove this great dragon from the field so Sauron could not use him as a weapon in the War of the Rings than it was to restore a small band of dwarves to their treasures. The book has practically nothing to say about this, or the fact that the character of the `necromancer' who takes up residence at the southwestern tip of Mirkwood forest is actually either the leader of the Nazgul or Sauron himself.

I keep thinking, as I turn each page of ample, empty white margins, all the things that could have been included.

In balance, this is not a bad book or even a poor purchase, especially if, like me, you simply must have a copy of every different version of Tolkien's works imaginable. It has a very nice bibliography and an Appendix of all textual changes between the 1937 and 1966 editions. For those notes it does have, it is great as a version to read to children where you can record your own notes with answers to their questions.

The annotated version of the familiar There and Back Again expands the book's value enormously. All of the archaic words that have boggled generations of readers have been explained, and the story can be seen in a new light due to the implications these words arouse. Also are included the illustrations from the foreign versions of the book (several are quite funny - like the way in which the various nations imagine the dwarves and Gandalf - especially those whose mythology includes neither dwarves nor wizards). A very eye-opening book, Annotated Hobbit is a quite interesting piece of work.

I physically looked this book over in a store before purchasing it and thought that the vast amount of side notes, pictures, and historical footnotes would be a great accompanyment to a reading of The Hobbit. However, I ended up barely glancing at them once I hit the half-way point of the book. Most of them focused on Tolkien's literary inspiration for certain stories and characters and only a handful had the cross-referencing to the Lord of the Rings which I would have preferred. They also greatly impeded the pace at which the book can be read because there are so many...and some can put you to sleep.

I would even give this edition to first-time readers, who will no doubt have many questions that Anderson attempts to answer. All the various illustrations will no doubt interest younger readers as well.

Anderson does perpetuate a couple of myths (such as the notion that Tolkien's Elves had pointed ears) but his research is generally regarded as some of the best in the world and that is well-deserved praise. The book includes all the changes Tolkien ever made to The Hobbit in an appendix which is non-intrusive. There is also an extensive bibliography for further reading.

But maybe the best reason to buy the book (if/when it is printed again) is its size. It's a nice, big cuddly book that is easy for an adult to hold, especially if you're reading to a child in your lap or beside you. The book also includes a biographical section on Tolkien that is interesting though short.

First things first: If you have NEVER read the Hobbit before, I do not recommend this version. Get The Hobbit: or, There and Back Again (Collector's Edition) instead. That is a wonderful hardcover collector's edition with a slipcover and beautiful illustrations.

Having said that, I will now direct my review towards people who have already read the Hobbit at least once and now wish to lean more about both J.R.R. Tolkien's writing process and the world of Middle-Earth itself.

But before I discuss this product I would like to explain why I bought this book in the first place. When Tolkien published the first edition of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins aquired the Ring from Gollum in a slightly different way than that with which we are familiar. Originally Gollum offered to give the ring away as a prize if Bilbo won the riddle contest. A few years later when Tolkien began work on the Lord of the Rings and finally realized what this Ring actually was, he knew that there was no way that Gollum would voluntarily give away the ring. So he went back and rewrote the entire "Riddles in the Dark" chapter, and to this day every later edition of the book has Bilbo taking the ring in a less-than-honest way. I wanted to read the original text from the first edition. What do you do when you want to read the first version of "Riddles in the Dark" but can't afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a first edition copy of the Hobbit? Get Douglas A. Anderson's annotated version!

What is "The Annotated Hobbit"? Start with the final edition of the Hobbit that Tolkien published in his lifetime, and center the book around that. Add Anderson's detailed annotations in smaller print in the wide margins of most pages. Add a large collection of illustrations of all sizes, and include appendices in the back. What does Anderson discuss in his annotations? Most notably he quotes the original text from every time Tolkien changed anything from one edition to the next. At one extreme is the entire "Riddles in the Dark" chapter rewrite included in the margins next to the regular text. At the other extreme are numberous single-word changes. In between the two Anderson detailed every time Tolkien made sentence and paragraph rewrites. Anderson discusses Tolkien's writing process, drawing heavily on Tolkien's published letters and other sources. Anderson cross-references minute details in the Hobbit with LOTR, Silmarillion, Book of Lost Tales, etc, in order to further explain people, events, and places and to point out cases where Tolkien occasionally contradicts himself. Anderson also discusses the impact the Hobbit has had on different audiences throughout the world.

The illustrations are splendid. We have all of Tolkien's original (published and unpublished) artwork for the Hobbit. We have the paintings of modern authorities like John Howe, and we have absolutely horrible artwork by illustrators who must not even have read the book - such as early Russian versions. Not only does that make this book a feast for the eyes, but it is interesting to see how different artists have had their own interpretations of Middle-Earth.

For anyone who wants more information or more artwork or the original text of "Riddles", this is the book for you. Although some might think this book contains too much miscellaneous information, I think it is the perfect volume for anyone who loves Tolkien and his hobbits, wizards, dwarves, and elves.

I was invited to do a public radio talk show about what books to buy for the holiday season and I decided to play the Ghost of Christmas Past and argued for finding old beloved books to give as presents (or, in my case cards: I give books instead of cards). I also talked about the joy of rediscovering beloved books through annotated editions, and "The Annotated Hobbit" of J. R. R. Tolkien annotated by Douglas A. Anderson was my prime example. After all, "The Two Towers" was about to hit theaters and even as I write this I have learned that yesterday would have been Tolkien's "Eleventeenth" birthday.

An annotated version of book involves much more than simply rereading a book. If that was all I want to do I still have my illustrated edition of "The Hobbit" will pictures from the Arthur Rankin, Jr./Jules Bass animated production of the story. The annotated edition of "The Hobbit" provides an explication of the sources, characters, places, and things that made Tolkien's novel a classic. The text is fully restored and corrected, for those who care about such things, with Anderson's notes placed alongside for easy reference. That along would justify adding this volume to your Tolkien library, but in addition there over 150 illustrations, including Tolkien's own original line drawings, maps, and color paintings. Those, of course, are treasures, but Anderson has also provided illustrations from around the world and the most fascinating part of this book for me was looking at how, for example, Bilbo and the Trolls were drawn for Portuguese, Slovakian, and Swedish edition of "The Hobbit."

"The Annotated Hobbit" won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inkling Studies, which sounds very impressive (and I even have some inkling at the what it means). This is one of those treasures where you would give five stars for the story, five stars for the annotations, and five stars for the illustrations. Granted, this is not the first edition of "The Hobbit" anyone should read. But after you have read "The Hobbit" a few times and gone through "The Lord of the Rings" at least twice (the trilogy itself and not the movies), then it would be time to settle down and pour over this revised and expanded annotated edition.

This book will probobly not interest those reading The Hobbit for the first time, but it's excellent for those who want the inside scoop on Tolkien's inspirations and drafts. A good resource for hard-core fans!