The Annotated Hobbit

Douglas A. Anderson's annotated version from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Annotated Hobbit:
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

Front dust jacket of the first edition

Author| J. R. R. Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson
Genre| Literary analysis
Publisher| Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Unwin Hyman, HarperCollins

Publication date

| 1988
Media type| Print
Awards| Mythopoeic Scholarship Award
ISBN| 978-0-395-47690-1
LC Class| PR6039.O32 H6

The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is an edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit with a commentary by Douglas A. Anderson. It was first published in 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first American publication of The Hobbit, and by Unwin Hyman of London.

## Structure

[edit]

The structure of The Annotated Hobbit is that of The Hobbit with its 19 chapters. The text is accompanied throughout with marginal notes beside the text and commenting on it by the Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson.[1] The edition includes more than 150 black-and-white illustrations from foreign editions and some that were drawn by Tolkien himself, and some rare poems written by Tolkien.[2][3]

Navigable diagram of Tolkien's legendarium. The Annotated Hobbit stands alongside John D. Rateliff's The History of the Hobbit and Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume The History of Middle-earth.

## Reception

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On its publication, The Annotated Hobbit was warmly welcomed in Mythlore by Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society. He began with the words "What a treasure trove; what a superb delight!"[4] He was pleased by the annotations, from the briefest of definitions through to quotations from letters and entire poems. He specially liked the many illustrations and photographs, commenting that for some readers, the images of dust jackets and translations will be especially interesting. GoodKnight personally found "most of the foreign illustrations ... technically and artistically embarrassing",[4] but even so the "cumulative effect" of the coverage of editions and translations was "rich and fascinating".[4]

More recently, George W. Beahm has called The Annotated Hobbit "the most informative edition" of The Hobbit.[5] The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey noted that the earliest version of Tolkien's poem "The Hoard" from 1923 was best accessible in this book.[6] The Annotated Hobbit won the 1990 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in "Inkling studies" by the Mythopoeic Society.[7]

## Editions

[edit]

In 2002, after the initial publication of The Annotated Hobbit, a "Revised and Expanded Edition" was published. This version included maps and colour paintings. It also provided newer sources and greater understanding of Tolkien's legendarium.[2] The appendix includes a chapter "The Quest of Erebor" about Gandalf's motivation to join Bilbo to the dwarven company.[5] Another British edition was published in 2003 by HarperCollins of London.[8]

## Translations

[edit]

See also: Translations of The Hobbit

Translations into other languages include the following:

* French: Le Hobbit annoté. Translated by Lauzon, Daniel. Christian Bourgois. 2012. ISBN 978-2-267-02389-3.
* German: Das große Hobbit-Buch [The Big Hobbit Book]. Klett-Cotta. 2012. ISBN 978-3-608-93714-5.
* Italian:
* Lo Hobbit annotato. Translated by Jeronimidis Conte, Elena; Griffini, Grazia Maria. Milano: Rusconi. 1991. ISBN 88-18-12100-6.
* Lo Hobbit annotato. Bompiani. 2004. ISBN 978-8-845-23292-3.
* Lo Hobbit annotato. Bompiani. 2017. ISBN 978-8-858-78633-8.
* Japanese: 新版 ホビット 下: ゆきてかえりし物語 第四版・注釈版. Hara Shobo. 2012. ISBN 978-4-562-07001-5.
* Spanish: El Hobbit Anotado. Ediciones Minotauro. 1993. ISBN 978-84-450-7153-3.
* Polish: Hobbit z Objaśnieniami [The Hobbit with Explanations]. Wydawnictwo Bukowy Las. 2012. ISBN 978-83-62478-62-0.
* Hungarian: A Hobbit. Ciceró Könyvstúdió. 2006. ISBN 978-963-539-764-8.
* Chinese: 哈比人. Yilin Press. 2011. ISBN 978-7-5447-2527-9.

## See also

[edit]

* The History of The Hobbit
* English-language editions of The Hobbit

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (2002). Anderson, Douglas A. (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780618134700.
2. ^ a b "The Annotated Hobbit by Douglas A. Anderson". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
3. ^ "History of the Hobbit: An essential resource book for the forthcoming movie adaptation of The Hobbit" (Press release). Tolkien Library. 13 October 2006.
4. ^ a b c GoodKnight, Glen H. (1988). "Reviews: A Superb Hobbit". Mythlore. 15 (1). Article 15.
5. ^ a b Beahm, George W. (2004). The Essential J. R. R. Tolkien Sourcebook: A Fan's Guide to Middle-Earth and Beyond. New Page Books. pp. 22, 23. ISBN 9781564147028.
6. ^ Shippey, Tom A. (2008) [1982]. Der Weg nach Mittelerde [The Road to Middle-earth] (in German). Klett-Cotta. p. 476\. ISBN 978-3-6089-3601-8.
7. ^ "Mythopoeic Scholarship Award". Mythopoeic Society. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
8. ^ The annotated hobbit : the hobbit, or, There and back again. OCLC 743079750 – via WorldCat.

* v
* t
* e

The Hobbit

* J. R. R. Tolkien
* Hobbit (word)
* Legendarium
* frame stories
* Middle-earth
* artwork
* Beowulf
* maps
* naming of weapons
* psychological journeys
* runes

Editions|

* English-language editions
* The Annotated Hobbit
* Translations

Characters|

* Bilbo Baggins
* Wizards
* Gandalf
* Radagast
* Dwarves
* Thorin Oakenshield
* Balin
* Goblins
* Trolls
* Gollum
* Eagles
* Beorn
* Elves
* Elrond
* the Elvenking
* Smaug
* Bard the Bowman
* The Necromancer
* Wargs

Places|

* Eriador
* The Shire
* Rivendell
* Rhovanion
* Mirkwood
* Esgaroth
* Lonely Mountain

Related works|

* The History of The Hobbit
* Bilbo's Last Song
* There and Back Again (novel)
* The Hobbit pinball machine
* The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game
* "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

Adaptations|

| Radio|

* The Hobbit (1968)

|

Film|

* Gene Deitch's The Hobbit (1967)
* Rankin/Bass's The Hobbit (1977)
* Soviet The Hobbit (1985)
* Peter Jackson's series
* An Unexpected Journey (2012)
* The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
* The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
* original characters
* music

Video games|

* The Hobbit (1982)
* The Hobbit (2003)
* Lego The Hobbit (2014)

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