Hobbit or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien (1990, Paperback)

Synopsis
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

This 1937 fantasy is the prequel, or "prelude" to the classic epic trilogy THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Bilbo Baggins is the hobbit of the title: a short, round, and hairy-footed creature fond of small comforts and his rural home. What he doesn't like (or at least thinks he doesn't like) is adventure, but that's just what he gets when a wizard and several dwarves show up on his doorstep, eat him out of house and home, and induce him to join them on a perilous mission to steal a dragon's treasure. Along the way, he picks up a golden ring with the power to turn the wearer invisible; this ring will turn out to be central to the later volumes. While THE LORD OF THE RINGS is a serious epic about the nature of good and evil, written in highly formal language and intended for adults, this earlier work is considerably lighter in tone and clearly directed toward a younger audience, having sprung out of the stories that Tolkien used to tell his own children. However, that does not and has not prevented adults the world over from enjoying THE HOBBIT.

Key Details
Author:	J.R.R. Tolkien
Language:	English
Publisher:	Eclipse Books
Format:	Paperback
ISBN-10:	0913035815
ISBN-13:	9780913035818

Additional Details
Illustrator:	Charles Dixon

Industry Reviews
"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' and those who are going to read them."
Sunday Times (London)

"Seventeen years ago there appeared, without any fanfare, a book called "The Hobbit" which in my opinion, is one of the best children's stories of this century."
New York Times Book Review - W. H. Auden (10/31/1954)