The Deluxe HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT is out

So, Wednesday came a ring at the doorbell that sent the cats scurrying, as usual. Checking the front porch revealed a stack of four boxes. Picking one up and finding it moderately heavy, I said half-jokingly they might at least in part be a shipment of honey, then added that some might be an order of bulk tea instead. Then Janice pointed to the Harper Collins labels on the side, and All Was Clear.

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I'd been waiting for the arrival of my author's copies for the new editions

of THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT, both the one-volume hardcover with the Ted Nesmith cover and the deluxe slipcase edition. It's great to have this available again, in my preferred edition: the expanded one-volume edition with the fifth appendix and Addendum. They even included all the artwork with high-quality reproduction, with the frontispieces to both of the original volumes (Fimbulfambi's Map and both sides, front and back, of Bilbo's Contract).

Now that I've had a chance to look this over, it was definitely worth the wait; Harper Collins did a bang-up job.

The only problem (and it's a good kind of problem to have) is that I no longer know how many copies of THE HOBBIT I have.

--John R.