The Hobbit Or There And Back Again, 2Nd Us Edition 1958 With Custom Leather Slipcase Tolkien, J.R.R. Current,Hobbits,Tolkien Library

12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. A Very Good copy of an extremely scarce early Hobbit. The 1958 printing, of the 2nd Edition (1951), or the 10th printing overall (1937). This copy is a stated 10th impression from the dustjacket, published by Houghton Mifflin from sheets imported from Great Britain. From the identification key by Steven Frisby, this stated 10th impression, is indeed the 10th impression. The Very Good only dustjacket is not priced or clipped, noted as printed in Great Britain. One of probably only 1000 imported from Allen & Unwin, lacking the printing history on title verso, to help them circumvent the import restrictions and US copyright laws. The book features the original dustjacket with the Mountains and Dragon design by the author. The dustjackets has numerous tears, a large mostly closed tear to the top of the back panel being the worst. There is a bit of loss to the top of the spine and the lower 1/4 inch is missing, some loss at the tips of the flap folds. White the flap folds are showing the crease with some color loss. The boards show minor soiling and marking, with a little shelfwear noted. The text block is clean, with some scattered foxing, previous owners name, to front free endpaper (map) and first blank page. No bumped corners, lightly soiled boards. The dustjacket is not price clipped and has no price markings. A collectable clean copy, one of the only issues with the pale green boards stamped in blue. Contains the full color frontispiece "The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water", as well as the original line drawings by Tolkien. The maps are in excellent condition, with the red and black ink still showing clear and bright against the endpapers. Both maps have some foxing, along with the previous owners name and date. A highly collectable copy, hard to find in it's original dustjacket. Very Good / Very Good.