An Unexpected Find

One of the joys when purchasing a mixed lot of books via an online auction are the unexpected jewels you find, from time to time, when you unpack your purchase. These are books that that escaped the auctioneer's attention when the lot description and price estimate wer prepared for the lot. My two notable finds in terms of resale value/rarity were a 2nd printing copy of the 1st paperback edition of Philosopher's Stone and a 4th impression copy from 1946 of the 1st UK edition of Tolkien's "The Hobbit". The latter was found, unloved, unremarked and invisible in the online pictures, at the bottom of a lot purchased for the 1st edition set of later printings of the 1st edition of Lord of the Rings it contained. This printing of the Hobbit, the final of the 1st edition, is notable for the significant textual revisions made by Tolkien for the 2nd edition, in advance of the first publication of the Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, to harmonize the two narratives. In particular the tone of Bilbo's encounter with Gollum leading to the former's acquisition of the Ring from the latter was significantly rewritten between the 1st and 2nd editions. This copy contains a colour frontispiece of Hobbiton with another eight illustrations by the author in black and white.