The Annotated Hobbit

It was first published in 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first American publication of The Hobbit, and by Unwin Hyman of London.

[2][3] On its publication, The Annotated Hobbit was warmly welcomed in Mythlore by Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society.

He specially liked the many illustrations and photographs, commenting that for some readers, the images of dust jackets and translations will be especially interesting.

GoodKnight personally found "most of the foreign illustrations ... technically and artistically embarrassing",[4] but even so the "cumulative effect" of the coverage of editions and translations was "rich and fascinating".

[2] The appendix includes a chapter "The Quest of Erebor" about Gandalf's motivation to join Bilbo to the dwarven company.

Diagram of the documents comprising Tolkien's Legendarium, as interpreted very strictly, strictly, or more broadly The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion Unfinished Tales The Annotated Hobbit The History of The Hobbit The History of The Lord of the Rings The Lost Road and Other Writings The Notion Club Papers J. R. R. Tolkien's explorations of time travel The Book of Lost Tales The Lays of Beleriand The Shaping of Middle-earth The Shaping of Middle-earth Morgoth's Ring The War of the Jewels The History of Middle-earth Non-narrative elements in The Lord of the Rings Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien Tolkien's artwork Tolkien's scripts Poetry in The Lord of the Rings commons:File:Tolkien's Legendarium.svg
Navigable diagram of Tolkien's legendarium . The Annotated Hobbit stands alongside John D. Rateliff 's The History of the Hobbit and Christopher Tolkien 's 12-volume The History of Middle-earth .