first edition Hobbit sold for £137,000

***Alcuin*** · 06-09-2015, 04:22 AM

A first edition of The Hobbit given by JRR Tolkien to one of his former students in 1937 has more than doubled the world record for a copy of the author’s first novel, selling at auction for £137,000. (US$ 209,400 at today’s exchange rate)

“[T]he copy [was] given by Tolkien to Katherine Kilbride, taught by the author at Leeds University in the 1920s … Kilbride’s includes an inscription by the author in Old English, identified by John D Rateliff, author of The History of The Hobbit, as an extract from Tolkien’s The Lost Road.”

There is a reproduction of the poem in Old English at the link.

***Alcuin*** · 06-10-2015, 01:53 PM

Facsimile of the inscription.

Note the striking visual similarity of Tolkien’s Old English to Tengwar.

06-09-2015, 04:22 AM	#1
*Alcuin* Salt Miner Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: gone to Far Harad Posts: 987	first edition Hobbit sold for £137,000 A first edition of The Hobbit given by JRR Tolkien to one of his former students in 1937 has more than doubled the world record for a copy of the author’s first novel, selling at auction for £137,000. (US$ 209,400 at today’s exchange rate) “[T]he copy [was] given by Tolkien to Katherine Kilbride, taught by the author at Leeds University in the 1920s … Kilbride’s includes an inscription by the author in Old English, identified by John D Rateliff, author of The History of The Hobbit, as an extract from Tolkien’s The Lost Road.” There is a reproduction of the poem in Old English at the link.

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06-10-2015, 01:53 PM	#2
*Alcuin* Salt Miner Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: gone to Far Harad Posts: 987	Facsimile of the inscription. Note the striking visual similarity of Tolkien’s Old English to Tengwar.