I decided to treat myself to this very handsome edition of The Hobbit when I realised that, somewhere along the way, I’d lost my original much-loved paperback (so well-thumbed it was disintegrating).
One of the immediate reasons it recommends itself, apart of course from the de-luxe hardback format, is the beautiful use of Tolkien’s dust jacket design and illustrations. Tolkien’s visual additions to his story are just wonderful (and there are whole books dedicated to his art, even specifically his Hobbit art works), and his maps and the dust jacket design are, to me, fundamentally essential parts of the proper ‘full Hobbit’ experience. This really is a sumptuously beautiful edition, one that can be enjoyed and admired as much for its visual aesthetics as for its literary content, or the sheer unalloyed fun of reading it and inhabiting Tolkien’s imaginary world.
It’s interesting when children’s stories evolve naturally from a family context, as The Hobbit did, and as many children’s stories do (e.g. Jim Smith’s recently republished Frog Band stories). My original paperback LOTR carried a review on the back that very succinctly captured what Tolkien achieves in both the LOTR and The Hobbit, which is a fusion of the ‘epic and homely’, and it all really took off from here, The Hobbit.
Most fundamentally, especially with a modern film of The Hobbit looming, it bears repeating that the unique experience of reading Tolkien and imagining his world, it’s characters, landscapes and events, for yourself, that is the best and most magical and enchanting experience Tolkien’s ‘legendarium’ can offer. Far better, I feel, to read the book first and have that exquisite experience than to have someone else’s interpretation imprinted on one’s reading of the book.
In my review I’ve really only addressed this editions particular merits, writing as someone who knows and loves Tolkien’s works. If you’re someone who doesn’t know the story I won’t spoil it for you: whether young or old, or somewhere in between, the best thing you could do is simply buy and read this classic book, and approach it with the simplicity and innocence of childhood (and we all continue to carry something of that within us, no matter how else we might age). Tolkien wrote a miniature masterpiece in The Hobbit, and thereby embarked upon the creation of a whole imaginary world. Open the door, and follow Bilbo’s adventures, as ‘the road goes ever on and on’, you’ll be glad you did.