The Hobbit: Deluxe Edition. by Tolkien, J.R.R - 1976

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1976. First deluxe edition of Tolkien's first novel. Octavo, original publisher's black pictorial cloth depicting illustrative vignette of Smaug to the front cover in gilt, silver and red, cartographic endpapers, frontispiece and 9 full-page uncolored illustrations after drawings by Tolkien. In near fine condition. "In enchanted Middle-earth, a small, comfort-loving Hobbit is awakened from his slumbers by a visitor who tells of lost treasure. Before Bilbo Baggins returns home again, he journeys past wizards and elves, talkative trees and treasure-guarding dragons, all swirling in cosmic battle between good and evil. J.R.R. Tolkien's fully realized fantasy world won over generations of children, and dazzled adults with its deft interweaving of medieval legend and made-up languages, maps, and creatures. Tolkien legitimized the modern fantasy genre, and provided the 1960's counterculture with antiwar, back-to-Eden icons" (NYPL Books of the Century 199).