The Hobbit (1973)

The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
1973 Collector’s Edition
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston
ISBN-10: 0395177111*
ISBN-13: 9780395177112
Hardcover; issued in a slipcase
320 pp.
Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Hammond Page Ref.: pp. 47-48

Notes
Typeset as for the Houghton Mifflin 1967 Third Edition, 24th Printing with five color illustrations added.

Published October 24, 1973.

1st Printing: 1973** – 20,000 copies
2nd Printing: September 25, 1973** – 5,000 copies
3rd Printing: October 12, 1973** – 5,000 copies
4th Printing: July, 1975
5th Printing: October, 1975
6th Printing: March, 1976
7th Printing: October, 1976
8th Printing: May, 1977
9th Printing: October, 1977
10th Printing: February, 1978
11th Printing: October, 1978

At least forty printings issued and is available new.

Also issued as a Book Club Edition which can be differentiated from the trade edition by the page edges and the lack of a number line/print number on the copyright page.

The Tolkien Monogram was added to the copyright page with the 13th or 14th Printing (1991).

The runes on the front cover read: ‘THE HOBBIT OR THERE AND BACK AGAIN BEING THE RECORD OF A YEARS JOURNEY OF BILBO BAGGINS CAMPILED [COMPILED] FROM HIS MEMOIRS’. The incorrect ‘A’ rune for “compiled” was corrected to the ‘O’ rune during the 3rd Printing. The runes on the spine of the book read: ‘THE HOBBIT BY J R R TOLKIEN’.

In an eighty-nine copy survey of later printings of this edition (including all but 1st Printings) twenty-four copies were 3rd Printings, the aforementioned error appearing on approximately eight out of every ten copies. Six 2nd Printings have been seen, one being a review copy.

RRP: $12.50; $15.00 (from 1974); $16.95; $17.95; $18.95 ➔ $35.00.

The slipcase can be seen here.

*This ISBN is shared with the 1987 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition and the 1988 Quality Paperback Book Club Edition.

**The first three printings were printed before publication.

The Hobbit (1973)	The Hobbit (1987)	The Hobbit (1988)