For some reason, Christopher Tolkien did not extend his History of Middle-Earth scholarship to the Hobbit. Rateliff provides an invaluable contribution by chronicling J.R.R. Tolkien's writing of his first and arguable best novel.
In many respects, the early drafts of the Hobbit do not differ much from the published version. The first phase of the draft remains startlingly similar to the final book. The key plot elements - from the unexpected party to the trolls to Beorn - are all present. There are a few minor differences, particularly the names (I won't spoilt the surprise, but Gandalf and Thorin go by different aliases).
The end of the second phase of the draft and third, and fourth phases deal with the latter half of the Hobbit story, and boy were there some changes. Bard wasn't the original dragon-slayer - not by long shot! It's fascinating to see how Tolkien originally envisioned the story and how much it differs from the final version.
Finally, the book covers the fifth phase, Tolkien's attempt to rewrite the Hobbit in 1960 to make it better fit the style of Lord of the Rings. Ultimately, Tolkien only got to Rivendell and most of the changes only affect the tone, not the plot, of the story. Still, it's a fascinating "what if".
I took off one star for something that bugged me throughout Rateliff's book. Rateliff supplements Tolkien's drafts with hundreds of detailed endnotes at the end of each chapter commenting on the text. These are generally very insightful, but because they're endnotes it's difficult and quite frustrating to have to flip back and forth to see how the comment relates to the text. This is especially so because the endnotes refer to very specific language or details in the text. The book ought to have used footnotes, or sidenotes such as those found in the Annotated Hobbit, so that readers can read the note right after reading the relevant text.
Other than that quibble, this is a MUST for any Hobbit fan.
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