Product Description

Acclaimed as the definitve version of The Hobbit - ideal for adults and children with 22 full colour original illustrations plus 38 delicate pencil drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42085 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-15
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Observer
`A finely written saga, and an exciting epic of travel and magical adventure, all working up to a devastating climax'

Synopsis
The beloved children's classic, now repackaged with a new cover to match that of the reset illustrated Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion hardbacks. J.R.R. Tolkien's great classic work, The Hobbit, celebrated its 60th year of publication (1937) with a gorgeous illustrated edition by artist Alan Lee, winner of the Kate Greenaway medal for illustration, and creator of the fabulously successful Centenary edition of The Lord of the Rings. Containing 22 full colour illustrations depicting key scenes from this all-time classic (scenes such as Gollum and Bilbo, The Wargs, Smaug the Dragon and The Battle of the Five Armies), this beautifully designed volume also includes a wealth of integrated pencil drawings which demonstrate perfectly Alan's genius at work. Alan Lee's work on this book, as well as the illustrated Lord of the Rings, led to him being approached by Peter Jackson to join the film trilogy as Conceptual Artist. The same artistic vision, present in his beautiful paintings and drawings, played a major role in the look of the films, and his work received the ultimate accolade with an Academy Award for Best Art Direction on The Return of the King.

About the Author
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold many millions of copies world wide.

Alan Lee is the creator of the highly successful illustrated edition of The Lord of the Rings, and winner of the 1994 Kate Greenaway Medal for Children's Book Illustration. He is currently working as a production designer on New Line Cinema's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy

Customer Reviews

The Hobbit!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the best books to ever enter our world, perfect for everyone who is a fantasy book lover. Once again thank you to J.R.R.Tolkien.

This is a story that grows with the reader.
In a mythical or maybe just forgotten time, many creatures lived in places like the Shire, home to Bilbo Baggins, Hobbit. Hobbits are comfort loving creatures with no real sense for adventure. A knock on the door and Bilbo's life is about to change.

Calling this book children's book is like calling "Alice in Wonderland" [see "The Annotated Alice"] a children's book. Yes children can read this book and it is fun. How ever there is a lot more to this book than a cute story. And it has all the depth of the other Tolkien works with the exception of being shorter.

Many people look at this story as a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings", where in reality it is a stand-alone story with a perfectly good beginning, middle, and end. When you read "The Lord of the Rings" there is enough description to forgo "The Hobbit." Personally, I find that reading The Lord of the Rings first gave me the in-depth background to better appreciate The Hobbit.
Many of the creatures and adventures will put you on the edge of your seat. You will recognize the personalities and grow along will Bilbo as he faces new challenges as he learns to deal with life.
A good book to read first would be "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell. Then you get a clearer picture of why the story progresses as it does.

Story fantastic, illustrations disappointing.
I bought this for my children. The story I know and love - and I recommend it without resservation.
This special edition comes with a paper dust cover, but the cover illustration is not printed on the hardback underneath. Inside the drawings are mostly black and white. The others are lacking in colour and impact. Mr Baggins and the other characters are illustrated in a not very appealing way, which I think will not live up to most people's mental image. Overall, I felt the llustration diminishes rather than enhances the book. It might have worked in the past, but now a new benchmark for the imagination has been set by the Lord of Rings movie, and the illustrations in this book look pale and weak compared to the images of Tolkein characters found in the movie.