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Dear Readers,
On Sept. 21, 1937, Tolkien's novel first hit booksellers'
shelves, eventually becoming one of the most popular literary
works of all time.
Tolkien, an English professor at the University of Leeds, was
grading test papers during the summer of 1928 when he scribbled
the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" on a
student's blank answer sheet.
 "His
effort to discover just what hobbits were and what they were
like led him to write one of the most beloved books ever
written, The Hobbit, an introduction to the world of
Middle-earth," says the Houghton Mifflin Company.
Tolkien worked on "The Hobbit" on and off through the early
1930s, sharing the manuscript with friends, including author C.S.
Lewis. A friend of a student convinced the George Allen & Unwin
publishing house to look at the book. Sir Stanley Unwin, the
company chairman, gave the manuscript to his 10-year-old son to
review in 1936.
"Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who lived in his hobbit-hole and
never went for adventures, at last Gandalf the wizard and his
dwarves persuaded him to go," wrote young Raynor Unwin.
The review convinced Stanley Unwin to publish the book. The
first copies of "The Hobbit," subtitled "There and Back Again,"
appeared in English bookstores on Sept. 21, 1937. With its
illustrations and maps drawn by Tolkien, the book gained
immediate popularity.
Read the full story.
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