The Annotated Hobbit

The structure of The Annotated Hobbit is that of The Hobbit with its 19 chapters. The text is accompanied throughout with marginal notes beside the text and commenting on it by the Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson.{{cite book |first=J. R. R. |last=Tolkien |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |editor-first=Douglas A. |editor-last=Anderson |editor-link=Douglas A. Anderson |title=The Annotated Hobbit |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |year=2002 |isbn=9780618134700 |url=https://archive.org/details/annotatedhobbith00tolk }} The edition includes more than 150 black-and-white illustrations from foreign editions and some that were drawn by Tolkien himself, and some rare poems written by Tolkien.{{cite web |url=http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/annohobbit/ |title=The Annotated Hobbit by Douglas A. Anderson |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |access-date=17 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301013024/http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/annohobbit/ |archive-date=1 March 2012}}{{cite press release |url=http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/historyofthehobbit2.htm |title=History of the Hobbit: An essential resource book for the forthcoming movie adaptation of The Hobbit |date=13 October 2006 |publisher=Tolkien Library}}

{{Tolkien's legendarium|upright=1.7|caption=Navigable diagram of Tolkien's legendarium. The Annotated Hobbit stands alongside John D. Rateliff's The History of the Hobbit and Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume The History of Middle-earth.}}

On its publication, The Annotated Hobbit was warmly welcomed in Mythlore by Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society. He began with the words "What a treasure trove; what a superb delight!" He was pleased by the annotations, from the briefest of definitions through to quotations from letters and entire poems. He specially liked the many illustrations and photographs, commenting that for some readers, the images of dust jackets and translations will be especially interesting. GoodKnight personally found "most of the foreign illustrations ... technically and artistically embarrassing", but even so the "cumulative effect" of the coverage of editions and translations was "rich and fascinating".{{cite journal |last=GoodKnight |first=Glen H. |author-link=Glen GoodKnight |year=1988 |title=Reviews: A Superb Hobbit |journal=Mythlore |volume=15 |issue=1 |at=Article 15 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol15/iss1/15}}

More recently, George W. Beahm has called The Annotated Hobbit "the most informative edition" of The Hobbit. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey noted that the earliest version of Tolkien's poem "The Hoard" from 1923 was best accessible in this book.{{cite book|title=Der Weg nach Mittelerde |trans-title=The Road to Middle-earth |first=Tom A. |last=Shippey |author-link=Tom Shippey |page=476 |language=de |publisher=Klett-Cotta |orig-year=1982 |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-6089-3601-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ro6hE6aFBhEC&dq=The+Annotated+Hobbit&pg=PA476}} The Annotated Hobbit won the 1990 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in "Inkling studies" by the Mythopoeic Society.{{cite web |url=http://www.mythsoc.org/awards/winners/ |title=Mythopoeic Scholarship Award |publisher=Mythopoeic Society |access-date=20 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006192054/http://www.mythsoc.org/awards/winners/ |archive-date=6 October 2014 }}

In 2002, after the initial publication of The Annotated Hobbit, a "Revised and Expanded Edition" was published. This version included maps and colour paintings. It also provided newer sources and greater understanding of Tolkien's legendarium. The appendix includes a chapter "The Quest of Erebor" about Gandalf's motivation to join Bilbo to the dwarven company.{{cite book |last=Beahm |first=George W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfnAtAEACAAJ |title=The Essential J. R. R. Tolkien Sourcebook: A Fan's Guide to Middle-Earth and Beyond |publisher=New Page Books |year=2004 |isbn=9781564147028 |pages=22, 23}} Another British edition was published in 2003 by HarperCollins of London.{{cite book|title=The annotated hobbit : the hobbit, or, There and back again |via=WorldCat |oclc = 743079750}}

{{see also|Translations of The Hobbit}}

Translations into other languages include the following:

• French: {{cite book |translator-last=Lauzon |translator-first=Daniel |title=Le Hobbit annoté |year=2012 |publisher=Christian Bourgois |isbn=978-2-267-02389-3}}
• German: {{cite book |title=Das große Hobbit-Buch |trans-title=The Big Hobbit Book |year=2012| publisher=Klett-Cotta |isbn=978-3-608-93714-5}}
• Italian:
• {{cite book |title=Lo Hobbit annotato |translator-last1=Jeronimidis Conte|translator-first1=Elena |translator-last2=Griffini |translator-first2=Grazia Maria |location=Milano |publisher=Rusconi |year=1991 |isbn=88-18-12100-6}}
• {{cite book |title=Lo Hobbit annotato |publisher=Bompiani |year=2004 |isbn=978-8-845-23292-3}}
• {{cite book |title=Lo Hobbit annotato |publisher=Bompiani |year=2017 |isbn=978-8-858-78633-8}}
• Japanese: {{cite book |title=新版 ホビット 下: ゆきてかえりし物語 第四版・注釈版 |publisher= Hara Shobo |year=2012 |isbn=978-4-562-07001-5}}
• Spanish: {{cite book |title=El Hobbit Anotado |year=1993 |publisher= Ediciones Minotauro |isbn=978-84-450-7153-3}}
• Polish: {{cite book |title=Hobbit z Objaśnieniami |trans-title=The Hobbit with Explanations |year=2012 |publisher= Wydawnictwo Bukowy Las|isbn=978-83-62478-62-0}}
• Hungarian: {{cite book |title=A Hobbit |year=2006 |publisher=Ciceró Könyvstúdió |isbn=978-963-539-764-8}}
• Chinese: {{cite book |title=哈比人 |year=2011 |publisher=Yilin Press |isbn=978-7-5447-2527-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/habirenchatuzhus0000unse }}

• The History of The Hobbit
• English-language editions of The Hobbit

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Hobbit}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annotated Hobbit}}

Category:The Hobbit

Category:1988 British novels

Category:Houghton Mifflin books