Happy Hobbit Day!

 

Well, it's Hobbit Day! 

That is the most celebrated day (and the week, as well) across the Tolkien fandom. How one celebrates is entirely up to them. It can range anywhere from going on a nice nature walk, having a cup of tea, having a hobbit-y meal (complete with ale). Some make a day of it, with doing marathons of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, etc.

However you celebrate, let's take a look at the book at which the day is named after (note that day isn't named after "THE" Hobbit, the book, but rather the race in Tolkien's worlds). The Hobbit was responsible for The Lord of the Rings existing, so, in a way, it was really The Hobbit that re-defined the fantasy genre. Not to undermine The Lord of the Rings, but if The Hobbit didn't exist first..... 


So there are a few ways to celebrate, book-wise. 

Of course, one can (re)read the book itself, or examine some titles about it or related to it. 

There are a wide variety of editions available (more info on those at the end of the post so that you can carry on reading it) but worthy of mention this year are a few. 

First up, we have The Hobbit joining the 'illustrated by the author' series, of which The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion belong to.

The Hobbit may very well be the final title available in this format, but we'll see what HarperCollins does in the future. Is an Unfinished Tales in this format viable? Will next year (or the year after) see a Lord of the Rings 70th Anniversary Edition modelled after the standard hardback? (split into 3 physical books with the same 'features' as the 2021 edition and boxed with the Companion). Anyway, back to The Hobbit. It is available in both standard hardback and slipcased editions. US fans, the slipcased edition will likely be offered next year, as has been par the course so far. (Your slipcased Silmarillion is due out pretty much any time now.)





Earlier this year, The History of The Hobbit has also been re-printed. Please note that this a re-print, not a new edition. The only visual difference between this and the original 2011 edition is the change of dustjacket imagery, and the colour of the ribbon-marker. Elsewise, it's pretty much identical. What is new, however, is that it was also released as a slipcased edition. 


There are also some other Hobbit-related books worth taking note of, those two aside.



While I don't believe it's no longer physically in print, Corey Olsen's Exploring The Hobbit is well-worth your time. It's available as an eBook and as an audiobook. Given Olsen's podcasting experience as well experience speaking overall, I'd recommend the audiobook, as it would feel like a special episode of one his podcasts because of that. 



Another title worthy of attention is The Art of The Hobbit. There will likely be some overlap between this and the 'illustrated by the author' edition of The Hobbit. If you own this title, you likely have all the artwork that will appear in that edition, as well as any text from Hammond & Scull that may be used to introduce that edition. I guess what I'm trying to say is that portions of this book are integrated into the 'illustrated by the author' edition, much like we saw with The Art of The Lord of the Rings compared to its 'illustrated by the author edition'.  



There is also a segment in Unfinished Tales which may be of interest with regards to The Hobbit: Part Three: The Third Age 'The Quest of Erebor.' This was initially intended to a be part of the Appendices in The Lord of the Rings, but didn't appear in full due to space. Perhaps someday it will appear in the Appendices as intended.....?

So however you choose to celebrate, enjoy your Hobbit Day! I'm done for now, but below I'll list some suggested editions of The Hobbit, as well as indicate if they match other Tolkien books, or are a 'one-off' (unique edition, black sheep edition, etc.) for those interested in having a book that could be part of a set, so to speak.


Here are some other noteworthy editions of The Hobbit:



Standard paperback: 9780261103344.

This edition is nothing special, but is the current standard paperback, which also has matching editions of the other Middle-earth books.

Alan Lee illustrated edition: 9780008376116

The Alan Lee illustrated edition, in its latest release. Like the standard paperback above, this edition also compliments other Tolkien books. Could very well be the overall best edition in print as of this writing.



Clarion's slipcased edition, 9780395177112

This is a nice slipcased edition. It offers nothing overly special, but its presentation is quite nice. Many slipcased editions of Tolkien's works are - in my opinion - about 25% more expensive than they should be, going solely on MSRP. This is a great way to get a nice edition of The Hobbit without costing too much to do it.



Facsimile Gift Set, 9780008259549

This is a special anniversary edition. It features a facsimile of the original first edition of The Hobbit, along with a host of other goodies, such as a booklet about the book's history, and an audio CD of Tolkien reading from it. It's nice to see the publisher offer more goodies in a special release than just the book! 

As you can see, book-wise there are a few ways to celebrate Hobbit Day :) For me the main thing is to keep Tolkien in my heart more-so today than usual: go on a walk in nature, stop in at a pub for a beer....things like that. 

However you celebrate, Happy Hobbit Day!