Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression, map endpapers, illustrations, frontispiece and 3 colour plates, light toning to endpapers and splitting from upper edge of flyleaf, upper hinge cracked at half-title, spotting throughout but very faint and occasional, pp.15/16 loose, original cloth, slight shelf-lean, light surface toning and discolouring, cloth splitting along upper joint and some edges, repairs to spine ends, preserved in facsimile jacket, [Hammond A3a], 8vo, 1937 [but 1938].

⁂ The second impression was the first version of the book to be illustrated in colour: the first impression had two plates only, both of which were uncoloured. A total of 2,300 copies were printed, and some 400 held at the binder's London warehouse were destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940.