The History of the Hobbit (Contains some "Spoilers"
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Voronwë the Faithful
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I definitely recommend it highly. I was somewhat skeptical as to how much it would add above and beyond Douglas Anderson's Annotated Hobbit, but it definitely adds a lot. It is a worthy companion to the HoMe series.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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superwizard
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Voronwë the Faithful
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I'm glad you are reading and enjoying this, Al. I agree that the commentary is more readable than much of the commentary in HoME.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
SPD Posted this review over on TOB, credited to Mike Foster of Gibert Magazine.
The Road Goes Ever On
The History of The Hobbit:
Part One: Mr. Baggins
Part Two: Return to Bag-End
By John D. Rateliff
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007
Vol. 1: 467 pages
Vol. 2: 438 pages
Hardcover; $35 each
Reviewed by Mike Foster
This long-awaited scholarly study chronicles the creation of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the first-published of J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth.
It includes a complete edition of the original version of The Hobbit, from the first fragment of the earliest lost draft through an abandoned 1960 revision wherein Tolkien attempted to attune The Hobbit’s style, geography, and chronology to its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Enriched with Tolkien’s own illustrations and maps, this tome testifies that the author’s fine-tuned fanciful fiction was achieved only through careful craftsmanship.
John Rateliff’s lively, lucid commentary sparkles with wisdom and wit, alluding to everything from prehistoric lake villages in Glastonbury to Scrooge McDuck. His masterful command of both Tolkien text and Tolkien scholarship makes this essential reading for every reader who ever enjoyed the adventures of the hobbit, the dwarves, and the wizard.
As Rateliff writes in his introduction:
Conversely, the original Gollum never intends to kill Bilbo, but rather after losing the riddle game, he apologetically escorts the hobbit out of the maze of goblin tunnels. Many scenes were added, and many others were extirpated. Characters who perished in the published version do not die in the earliest account. The wizard Gandalf was originally named Bladorthin; the chief dwarf Thorin was first known as Gandalf; Beorn was Medwed.
Rateliff has meticulously mined the riches found in the 1,586 pages of The Hobbit material in the Marquette University Tolkien manuscript collection. That tremendous trove was purchased for a pittance in 1957 before the Middle-earth boom began. William Ready, Marquette’s newly appointed director of libraries, negotiated with Tolkien through London bookseller Bertram Rota. A deal was concluded, and thus a priceless cache of holograph drafts, typescripts, plot notes, scribbled additions, sketches, and corrected galley proofs of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Mr. Bliss was acquired for 1,500 English pounds, then worth about $4,900.
When Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son and literary heir, embarked on the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth series, he discovered more manuscripts that should have been included in the parcel, so between 1987 and 1998, another 4,000 pages, mostly of The Lord of the Rings, were bequeathed to Marquette.
Like two other classics of English fantasy, Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Hobbit was a tale that was told before it was finally written down. Beginning in late 1930, Tolkien narrated the story of Bilbo Baggins to his young sons, John, Michael, and Christopher. As Christopher, then 13, wrote in his letter to Father Christmas in 1937, just after the book’s publication, they heard it “in our winter ‘reads’ after tea; but the ending chapters were rather roughly done, and not typed out at all; he finished it about a year ago.”
“This is a book to be read aloud to an attentive audience,” Rateliff states. “Scenes are deliberately described in such a way as to help a listener visualize them.” He points out that the rich detail, the word-play, and the comic elements “liven up the narrative.” As anyone who has ever read aloud to children, especially one’s own, knows, youngsters do not feign interest. Both delight and boredom are obvious. Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis, who read and critiqued the tale in January, 1933, would have been a comparatively easy audience.
Mr. Baggins begins with a first-chapter fragment whereon Tolkien had scribbled “Only page preserved of the first scrawled copy of The Hobbit.” Here the dragon Smaug is called Pryftan, but otherwise, much of this early draft is verbatim with the published text. Deleted, however, are references to the real world, such as China and the Gobi desert, and likewise names from the author’s unpublished “Silmarillion” mythology, such as Fingolfin. Elrond of Rivendell is originally described as being “kind as Christmas,” not summer.
Enumerating all the gems of lore in this book would be rather like doing a complete inventory of the treasure-pile Smaug sleeps on in the Lonely Mountain. Each chapter here concludes with a section of textual notes on the preceding narrative followed by passages of cogent commentary. For instance, notes appended to the “Gollum” chapter discuss Gollum himself, riddles, the Ring, and invisible monsters. Early drafts of poems, previously unpublished maps, little-known illustrations, and four sets of plot plans testify to the author’s perfectionism. Tolkien’s 1947 revision published in 1951, which changed the story to harmonize it with the yet-unpublished The Lord of the Rings, the cursory 1966 revision to assert the American copyright, and an undertaken but unfinished extensive rewriting of the story begun in 1960 are all here.
Rateliff interweaves not only works by other authors but also Tolkien’s own, including not only The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion but also his letters, interviews, and the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth edited by his son. References include a boggling variety of works, including the Kalevala, the Mabinogion, Chaucer, Malory, Spenser, the brothers Grimm, Macaulay, Wodehouse, Dunsany, Swift, Lofting, Grahame, Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Morris, MacDonald, and Carroll, to name but eighteen of the literary sources. Moreover, Tolkien scholars tend to be generous with their insights, and this work is augmented by both published and private contributions from that community.
Rateliff began studying the Marquette Tolkien manuscripts in 1981, when he moved from Arkansas to Wisconsin. When he came to Milwaukee, only a few scholars, including Richard West, this reviewer, and Taum Santoski, had perused the manuscripts. Santoski and Rateliff worked together on what would become this book from 1987 to 1989. After Santoski died in 1991, Rateliff inherited the task and, after sixteen years of research and writing, completed the project. It was well worth the time spent on it.
The eclectic erudition of the notes and the commentary make this book indispensable to those who admire Tolkien and want a better understanding and appreciation of his efforts to perfect this story.
The great joy is the tale itself. Here is the adventure of Bilbo Baggins witnessed as it grew from seed to sprout to sapling to full and final splendor. Every reader who loves the familiar version will delight in The History of the Hobbit’s exegesis. With fluent expression and revelatory insight that deepens and broadens our appreciation of The Hobbit, John Rateliff has enhanced the magnificence of Middle-earth.
The Road Goes Ever On
The History of The Hobbit:
Part One: Mr. Baggins
Part Two: Return to Bag-End
By John D. Rateliff
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007
Vol. 1: 467 pages
Vol. 2: 438 pages
Hardcover; $35 each
Reviewed by Mike Foster
This long-awaited scholarly study chronicles the creation of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the first-published of J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth.
It includes a complete edition of the original version of The Hobbit, from the first fragment of the earliest lost draft through an abandoned 1960 revision wherein Tolkien attempted to attune The Hobbit’s style, geography, and chronology to its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Enriched with Tolkien’s own illustrations and maps, this tome testifies that the author’s fine-tuned fanciful fiction was achieved only through careful craftsmanship.
John Rateliff’s lively, lucid commentary sparkles with wisdom and wit, alluding to everything from prehistoric lake villages in Glastonbury to Scrooge McDuck. His masterful command of both Tolkien text and Tolkien scholarship makes this essential reading for every reader who ever enjoyed the adventures of the hobbit, the dwarves, and the wizard.
As Rateliff writes in his introduction:
For instance, Bilbo was to be the slayer of the dragon Smaug; the sudden appearance of Bard, who can be seen as a prototype of Aragorn, gave the story a human hero. Rateliff observes that “the projected scheme of Bilbo stabbing the dragon ‘as it sleeps, exhausted after battle,’ while very much in keeping Jack the Giant-Killer’s ruthless practicality, has the drawback of creating sympathy in the reader’s mind for the villain of the story. The eventual solution Tolkien ultimately arrived at, while much more complex and unexpected, smites down this mass-murderer in the midst of his villainy, which is far more satisfactory from the point of view of the story’s moral code.”Since the published story is so familiar, it has taken on an air of inevitability, and it may come as something of a shock to see how differently Tolkien first conceived of some elements, and how differently they were sometimes expressed.
Conversely, the original Gollum never intends to kill Bilbo, but rather after losing the riddle game, he apologetically escorts the hobbit out of the maze of goblin tunnels. Many scenes were added, and many others were extirpated. Characters who perished in the published version do not die in the earliest account. The wizard Gandalf was originally named Bladorthin; the chief dwarf Thorin was first known as Gandalf; Beorn was Medwed.
Rateliff has meticulously mined the riches found in the 1,586 pages of The Hobbit material in the Marquette University Tolkien manuscript collection. That tremendous trove was purchased for a pittance in 1957 before the Middle-earth boom began. William Ready, Marquette’s newly appointed director of libraries, negotiated with Tolkien through London bookseller Bertram Rota. A deal was concluded, and thus a priceless cache of holograph drafts, typescripts, plot notes, scribbled additions, sketches, and corrected galley proofs of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Mr. Bliss was acquired for 1,500 English pounds, then worth about $4,900.
When Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son and literary heir, embarked on the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth series, he discovered more manuscripts that should have been included in the parcel, so between 1987 and 1998, another 4,000 pages, mostly of The Lord of the Rings, were bequeathed to Marquette.
Like two other classics of English fantasy, Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Hobbit was a tale that was told before it was finally written down. Beginning in late 1930, Tolkien narrated the story of Bilbo Baggins to his young sons, John, Michael, and Christopher. As Christopher, then 13, wrote in his letter to Father Christmas in 1937, just after the book’s publication, they heard it “in our winter ‘reads’ after tea; but the ending chapters were rather roughly done, and not typed out at all; he finished it about a year ago.”
“This is a book to be read aloud to an attentive audience,” Rateliff states. “Scenes are deliberately described in such a way as to help a listener visualize them.” He points out that the rich detail, the word-play, and the comic elements “liven up the narrative.” As anyone who has ever read aloud to children, especially one’s own, knows, youngsters do not feign interest. Both delight and boredom are obvious. Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis, who read and critiqued the tale in January, 1933, would have been a comparatively easy audience.
Mr. Baggins begins with a first-chapter fragment whereon Tolkien had scribbled “Only page preserved of the first scrawled copy of The Hobbit.” Here the dragon Smaug is called Pryftan, but otherwise, much of this early draft is verbatim with the published text. Deleted, however, are references to the real world, such as China and the Gobi desert, and likewise names from the author’s unpublished “Silmarillion” mythology, such as Fingolfin. Elrond of Rivendell is originally described as being “kind as Christmas,” not summer.
Enumerating all the gems of lore in this book would be rather like doing a complete inventory of the treasure-pile Smaug sleeps on in the Lonely Mountain. Each chapter here concludes with a section of textual notes on the preceding narrative followed by passages of cogent commentary. For instance, notes appended to the “Gollum” chapter discuss Gollum himself, riddles, the Ring, and invisible monsters. Early drafts of poems, previously unpublished maps, little-known illustrations, and four sets of plot plans testify to the author’s perfectionism. Tolkien’s 1947 revision published in 1951, which changed the story to harmonize it with the yet-unpublished The Lord of the Rings, the cursory 1966 revision to assert the American copyright, and an undertaken but unfinished extensive rewriting of the story begun in 1960 are all here.
Rateliff interweaves not only works by other authors but also Tolkien’s own, including not only The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion but also his letters, interviews, and the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth edited by his son. References include a boggling variety of works, including the Kalevala, the Mabinogion, Chaucer, Malory, Spenser, the brothers Grimm, Macaulay, Wodehouse, Dunsany, Swift, Lofting, Grahame, Shakespeare, Lovecraft, Morris, MacDonald, and Carroll, to name but eighteen of the literary sources. Moreover, Tolkien scholars tend to be generous with their insights, and this work is augmented by both published and private contributions from that community.
Rateliff began studying the Marquette Tolkien manuscripts in 1981, when he moved from Arkansas to Wisconsin. When he came to Milwaukee, only a few scholars, including Richard West, this reviewer, and Taum Santoski, had perused the manuscripts. Santoski and Rateliff worked together on what would become this book from 1987 to 1989. After Santoski died in 1991, Rateliff inherited the task and, after sixteen years of research and writing, completed the project. It was well worth the time spent on it.
The eclectic erudition of the notes and the commentary make this book indispensable to those who admire Tolkien and want a better understanding and appreciation of his efforts to perfect this story.
The great joy is the tale itself. Here is the adventure of Bilbo Baggins witnessed as it grew from seed to sprout to sapling to full and final splendor. Every reader who loves the familiar version will delight in The History of the Hobbit’s exegesis. With fluent expression and revelatory insight that deepens and broadens our appreciation of The Hobbit, John Rateliff has enhanced the magnificence of Middle-earth.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
Well, I finally finished it. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, including the 1960 rewrite, which unlike others here I would love to have seen finished. I value The Hobbit as written, but I certainly see huge value in the rewrite also.
It was also very interesting (to me) to see elements of the Potterverse in the discussion even though Rateliff chose not to highlight them. Of particular note were "Dobbies" and the related "Hobs" who would work for a family until they were given a present of clothes. Also, I much appreciated the comparison made between the "realistic style" of LotR versus the more "fairytale" or "mythic" style of The Hobbit.
In short I wish HoME was half as readable as this. I mean this not as an insult, but as an observation. Its not so much that HoME was not well constructed, but it somehow failed to be simply as interesting as "The History of the Hobbit". I may revisit HoME now that my appetite has been whetted, so to speak.
It was also very interesting (to me) to see elements of the Potterverse in the discussion even though Rateliff chose not to highlight them. Of particular note were "Dobbies" and the related "Hobs" who would work for a family until they were given a present of clothes. Also, I much appreciated the comparison made between the "realistic style" of LotR versus the more "fairytale" or "mythic" style of The Hobbit.
In short I wish HoME was half as readable as this. I mean this not as an insult, but as an observation. Its not so much that HoME was not well constructed, but it somehow failed to be simply as interesting as "The History of the Hobbit". I may revisit HoME now that my appetite has been whetted, so to speak.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
This book sounds really good. 
How typical of him.
I'm with you, Al. I would just love to read that. I love TH as written too, but it would have been so cool if the original version had been more LotR-compatible.
Seems like Joanne Rowling also knows her stuff. 
I have to be honest. I find most of HoME completely indigestible. I appreciate the hard graft behind it, but ... I'd rather read the actual stories!! I do like Vol.9, 'Sauron Defeated', because it has that unpublished Epilogue with Sam and Elanor and all the cute Gamgee kidlets.
And is nearly as sappy as Deathly Hallows. I'm glad Tolkien was persuaded to drop it from the original, but it's fascinating to read!
It inspireth much fanfic.
I had absolutely no idea that Tolkien did a rewrite of TH in 1960.Alatar wrote:Well, I finally finished it. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, including the 1960 rewrite, which unlike others here I would love to have seen finished. I value The Hobbit as written, but I certainly see huge value in the rewrite also.
How typical of him.
I'm with you, Al. I would just love to read that. I love TH as written too, but it would have been so cool if the original version had been more LotR-compatible.
Wow, that's really interesting.It was also very interesting (to me) to see elements of the Potterverse in the discussion even though Rateliff chose not to highlight them. Of particular note were "Dobbies" and the related "Hobs" who would work for a family until they were given a present of clothes.
Seems like Joanne Rowling also knows her stuff. In short I wish HoME was half as readable as this. I mean this not as an insult, but as an observation. Its not so much that HoME was not well constructed, but it somehow failed to be simply as interesting as "The History of the Hobbit". I may revisit HoME now that my appetite has been whetted, so to speak.
I have to be honest. I find most of HoME completely indigestible. I appreciate the hard graft behind it, but ... I'd rather read the actual stories!! I do like Vol.9, 'Sauron Defeated', because it has that unpublished Epilogue with Sam and Elanor and all the cute Gamgee kidlets.
And is nearly as sappy as Deathly Hallows.
I'm glad Tolkien was persuaded to drop it from the original, but it's fascinating to read! It inspireth much fanfic.
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Avatar by goldlighticons on Live Journal
I found HoME a rather hard slog, and even though I own a very handsome set ( in my opinion! ) I haven't read them all yet. I read the bunch in the middle ( six through nine ) that particularly address LOTR, and I have read the two Lost Tales volumes.
So this looks like it would be a good read for me.
So this looks like it would be a good read for me.
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Rowanberry
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I''ve been trudging systematically through the HoME books for the last two and a half or three years, and am at Vol. 10 at the moment... The series isn't the easiest read, although it is definitely interesting. Some time ago, I also found the History of The Hobbit (HoTH?), and maybe will read it before moving on to HoME 11 and 12.
See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.
~ Lao Tzu
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Voronwë the Faithful
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I'm glad you enjoying it, Al. I did too. And I too would have liked to have seen the 1960 version finished. I'm not sure if I gave a contrary impression.
And while I love the HoMe books, I agree with the observation that The History of the Hobbit is considerably easier to read. Part of it is the nature of the material, part is the way the book is structured, and part is Rateliff's writing style (which occasionally bogs down in minutia, but generally is very clear and presents the material in an interesting way). John put an awful lot of time into this project, and it definitely shows.
*Warning Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead* I am hopeful that people will find Arda Reconstructed easier to read and digest than the HoMe books. I definitely feel that a big part of my target audience are people that are interested in learning more about the background of the creation of The Silmarillion, but are turned off by the fragmented nature of the HoMe books, and Christopher's sometimes overly scholarly, somewhat stilted writing. I definitely have tried to ensure that knowledge of HoMe is not a prerequisite for reading it, and that it readable and interesting to anyone who has read The Silmarillion.
And while I love the HoMe books, I agree with the observation that The History of the Hobbit is considerably easier to read. Part of it is the nature of the material, part is the way the book is structured, and part is Rateliff's writing style (which occasionally bogs down in minutia, but generally is very clear and presents the material in an interesting way). John put an awful lot of time into this project, and it definitely shows.
*Warning Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead* I am hopeful that people will find Arda Reconstructed easier to read and digest than the HoMe books. I definitely feel that a big part of my target audience are people that are interested in learning more about the background of the creation of The Silmarillion, but are turned off by the fragmented nature of the HoMe books, and Christopher's sometimes overly scholarly, somewhat stilted writing. I definitely have tried to ensure that knowledge of HoMe is not a prerequisite for reading it, and that it readable and interesting to anyone who has read The Silmarillion.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
V, I'm sorry if I misrepresented anyone. I just got the impression both you and Soli felt the 1960 version was a bad idea. References to "the abortive 1960" version by one or other of you and general agreement that it was "not the Hobbit" are the sort of comments I remember but I'll confess I didn't go back to see who'd said them!
I certainly look forward to reading Arda Reconstructed, and the samples I've read were certainly more along the lines of The History of the Hobbit than HoME.
I certainly look forward to reading Arda Reconstructed, and the samples I've read were certainly more along the lines of The History of the Hobbit than HoME.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End