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tolkiens legendarium - What are the revisions in the (Revised Edition) of The Hobbit?


So this past Saturday a group of my friends and I all watched the three The Lord of the Rings extended edition movies in one sitting.


That night, I borrowed a copy of The Hobbit, which I've never read, from my brother. When I got home, my wife informed me that she already has a copy of The Hobbit.


Comparing the two, the one from my brother was published in the late sixties or early seventies but doesn't have a publishing date or an ISBN. This book has a hardcover and has odd drawings of a hand pointing at something on the first few pages. This book is about nine inches tall by eight inches wide.


The cover just reads:




THE HOBBIT



The one my wife has is a recent paperback.


On the cover it says:



J.R.R. TOLKIEN


The enchanting prelude to Lord of the Rings


THE HOBBIT




with an illustration of the shire between J.R.R. TOLKIEN and the line about LotR.


Inside the paperback version it says:



The Hobbit, or There and Back Again


(Revised Edition)


By J.R.R. Tolkien



What has been revised in the recent paperback version of The Hobbit compared to the one my brother owns?



Answer



It sounds like your wife has this one (goodreads.com), the same edition as mine.



The revision was made after Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings, to tie in the history and nature of the Ring and fix some minor inconsistencies between the two works. The primary difference in the revised version is the way Gollum is portrayed. Wikipedia summarizes the diverging scene:



In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle-game, and he and Bilbo part amicably. In the second edition edits, in order to reflect the new concept of the ring and its corrupting abilities, Tolkien made Gollum more aggressive towards Bilbo and distraught at losing the ring.



In LotR, Bilbo makes a reference to the revision himself at the Council of Elrond, when he asks any who heard another telling to forget it and forgive him. He explains that the original version was a lie he made up under the influence of the Ring, while the "revision" which he then tells in full is in fact the truth.


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