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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In time for the release of the second installment in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comes Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson's The Annotated Hobbit: Revised and Expanded Edition. Anderson has incorporated much new information unearthed since the book first appeared in 1988. National author tour. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Choice Review
Douglas A. Anderson, a New York State bookseller, prints the text of the third edition of The Hobbit (1966) on the upper inside two thirds of each page, with notes on the outside third of each page; illustrations--either Tolkien's (including color plates in black and white) or 13 from non-American editions--appear at the bottom. Further, Anderson has endnoted a full printing of textual changes by Tolkien. These textual changes will be valuable for students; the foreign illustrations will appeal to general readers. The basic annotations, however, although good, are not all one expects. They record Tolkien's comments on his work; a number of his parallel early poems; a number of linguistic points, often derived from T.A. Shippey's The Road to Middle-earth (CH, Jul '83); and most of the certain sources. But Anderson does not record critical theories, such as Randel Helms's Freudian reading in Tolkien's World (1974). Minor slips include a few failures to give the sources for citations (e.g., p. 111, 314). Anderson has good primary and secondary bibliographies, the former just of books. Recommended for children's literature and general reading collections; limited, but useful, for British literature collections. -J. R. Christopher, Tarleton State University
Library Journal Review
Honoring the 50th anniversary of the U.S. publication of The Hobbit, this edition offers more than the expected annotation of names, chronology, sources, and commentary (although literary criticism and cross-references to Lord of the Rings are limited). There is a fine introduction to the book's inception and reception, a rune-key, both primary and secondary bibliographies, a wealth of black-and-white illustrations from foreign editions and from Tolkien's own hand, and an appendix detailing all text revisions in the many U.S. and English editions. Though there are omissions (e.g., the Biblical and other traditional English sources for Tolkien's prose style), the scholar and general reader alike should find this commemorative edition both instructive and pleasing. Patricia Dooley, Lib. Sch., Univ. of Washington, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface to the Second Edition xi | |
| introduction | p. 1 |
| 1 an unexpected party | p. 29 |
| 2 roast mutton | p. 60 |
| 3 a short rest | p. 87 |
| 4 over hill and under hill | p. 100 |
| 5 riddles in the dark | p. 115 |
| 6 out of the frying-pan into the fire | p. 137 |
| 7 queer lodgings | p. 161 |
| 8 flies and spiders | p. 191 |
| 9 barrels out of bond | p. 222 |
| 10 a warm welcome | p. 241 |
| 11 on the doorstep | p. 255 |
| 12 inside information | p. 267 |
| 13 not at home | p. 289 |
| 14 fire and water | p. 302 |
| 15 the gathering of the clouds | p. 314 |
| 16 a thief in the night | p. 326 |
| 17 the clouds burst | p. 333 |
| 18 the return journey | p. 346 |
| 19 the last stage | p. 355 |
| Appendix A The Quest of Erebor | p. 367 |
| Appendix B The Runes | p. 378 |
| Bibliography | p. 380 |
| Map of Wilderland | p. 399 |