A super rare copy of The Hobbit! | Antiques Roadshow | BBC Studios 

Tolkien's beautiful hand-writing is instantly recognizable.

3500 is equivalent to to around 9000 these days, after the success of the films one similar copy sold for £137000 in 2015

If that is the "aunt jane book" it sold for over £40k in 2002, Tolkien was very close to his aunt jane and it would have been one of the first books he signed and gave as a gift

I'm astounded by how lovely the hand printed text is in Tolkien's hand. The fact that there are two Tolkien's mentioned should add to the value too.

In the 1980s as a teenager I had the pleasure of visiting Tolkien’s daughter Priscilla in her house in North Oxford. Lots of family photos with a familiar looking gentleman with a pipe all round the house. I looked along her shelves, found a copy of The Hobbit. Took it out to have a look and found a near fine 1st edition with complete dust jacket, inscribed by Tolkien to his daughter. I realised just how valuable this object was and very carefully put it back in the shelf. I later read that only 500 first editions were printed, and quite a few were destroyed in the Blitz. Many of them surface in Australia where a shipment went to a department store out there. I once met an old man who had a genuine 1st edition (sadly no wrapper) which his aunt bought for him and posted to him in Argentina where he was living at the time (his father has an engineer stationed out there).

I imagine it would be worth a lot more these days.

What a treasure . One of the first published books . That sent many of us on a fascinating journey .

He didn't notice or didn't mention that the letter is dated 22nd September, Bilbo and Frodo's birthday.

Also of note of the first edition the scene with the ring was rewritten in the second edition because Tolkien was bringing in line with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That makes this first edition even more valuable than any other.

32 years ago this was probably a reasonable valuation... now...after all the moves...I'm sure that book would fetch six figures.

Remember this edition being in my local library in central California in the 1980s. Nobody thought anything of it. I remember reading it on location at one of the library tables as a child and falling in love with middle earth. Many other books as well.

That dust cover is what first drew me to that book. It jumped out at me from the library shelf. I just had to read it.

The book is now one of the most valuable Tolkien books ever.

The provenance alone should have added enormous value. Dust jackets alone with no book for rare books can often sell for crazy amounts. £ 3,500 even in 1990 seems like a pittance. I was expecting hundreds of thousands of pounds or dollars. I see in 2015 a similar copy with a letter written in by JRR in "Elvish" sold for $200,000 USD.

Holly crap his writing is beautiful.

A first edition copy of J.R.R. tolkien's The Hobbit, given by J.R.R. Tolkien to one of his former students Katherine Kilbride in 1937, was sold at Sotheby's auction house in London for £137,000 (about $210,000)

This would be worth waaaaaaaaay more than that today

I would pay more for that. Great bit of literary history.

Antiques Roadshow (1990) for anyone that missed it. Please put year of broadcast in the description! ;)

I have one of those, might not be first edition but the same book except mine is glued into the the cover upside down.

Tolkiens illustrations were so imaginative and incredible. Couldn’t imagine owning a 1st edition.

I remember loaning out this edition from my local library in the early 90s. Very special book.

I read the Hobbit and the Rings trilogy back in the early 80s when I was in junior high and the cover still looked exactly like that.

It is definitely precious.

I work at Donald Heald Rare Books & Fine art and I'd comfortably say that this book today would sell for well over $100,000 USD

This is 30 years old, you can say with certainty that it is worth many times that today. The letter alone would be 3500.

Absolutely love the cover art.

Look how amazing his handwriting is. Holy crap

My parents had one of these copies. We had a dog that ate it in 2003. My dad was so devastated.

Amazing penmanship.

The appraiser is wearing that book out flipping back and forth through it.

I think the fact that this was a copy given to his grandson would add a fair bit to its value.

I am a little surprised the appraiser didn’t wear gloves to inspect this beautiful heirloom

You just know that 'First Edition Freak' is on the appraisers bio.

It mentions in the description that Hugh Scully was the presenter. Hugh's spell as presenter ran from 1981 to 2000, so the clip is between 22 and 41 years old. So, yes, it would be worth a great deal more now, as long as the dust jacket has not got a lot worse.

This is a family heirloom. It is priceless and should be kept within the family. If Simon Tolkien is Jrr Tolkien’s grandson, then I’m sure he is a millionaire. They are well off in the family and don’t need to sell a book like that. That book is something you pass to your children, grandchildren, etc.

i love these videos so much

Her husband, Simon Tolkien, is the monster behind the Amazon series Rings of Power. With the films his estranged father, Christopher Tolkien, kept the family out of the entire process. He did not want anyone claiming a film adaptation was made with the Tolkien family approval, blessing, etc. and therefore was somehow the "official" interpretation of his father's work. Christopher Tolkien carefully compiled his father's notes and works as well as made enormous contributions to the world of Middle Earth always maintaining the highest reverence for the work of his father and what had been created. Simon Tolkien was a barrister who tried to be an author and went nowhere. He butted heads with his father for years and wanted the estate to have a direct role with the films which came out. He also is signed on as a consultant for Rings of Power which does nothing but warp Tolkien's work into something unrecognizable but Simon finally after decades claims he got to do something...

Simply astonishing

Wow! I have one of these somewhere in a box(unpacked since moving)! Will have to check which edition but it appears identical!

That thing is straight out of the shire! Imagine being related to JRR Tolkien holy wow

It is indeed a most exquisite piece. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the price, though.

That is the version (cover and book) that I read back in school in the 70's.Even though that wouldn't have been a first printing I bet it would be worth a few quid these days !!

My primary school had this in there library! I borrowed it and took it home to read many times

I can't be the only one who expected the amount to be much much higher

Look how easily I can pull this tape off

The black forest and the bear. AWESOME!

Peter Sarpy Elementary School had one - this is the copy I read. 10/10 wish I’d stolen it.

The question is really was it kept until after 2001? Because as we all know despite there being strong interest in 1990 for this book, after 2001 interest in Tolkien works surged. The value would have skyrocketed even further. It would have probably been worth in excess of £10k just over ten years later. In 2008 an excellent first edition sold for £50k.

Nice, that’s the exact edition my dad passed down to me, but in much better condition than the one in the video.

The man could write, I'll give him that.

It's worth a heckuva lot more than that now

I was expecting a much bigger number.

Damn that's the exact copy I read as a kid. I remember that simple blue/green cover.

this was the version I first read when I was a kid. borrowed from my school library.

We wants it, my precious.

Absolutely should not be sold, ever. That's a gift from family to family.

Can only imagine what this worth today.

Just finished the book finally. It was great just like the movie

"First edition Freaks" - love it

I would have expected Tolkien to leave more books than just one copy of the Hobbit to his own grandson. It is awesome though.

When you hear she's wife of grandson it's dah like, what a discovery

Love how dryly he refers to the "dust jacket freaks", lol

I couldn't finish watching because the way he was handling the book was doing my head in.

My heart jumped for a second, I have the same book but in paperback with same cover design 😄

The real question is was this a first edition with the original version where Gollum gave up the ring willingly? That would raise the value by a lot, I'd imagine.

My first ever edition of the Hobbit was that particular edition. Not first edition, bought with saved up allowance from a local Borders, but the same cover etc. I think it disintegrated from repeated re-readings when I was a teenager...

We had that version in my school library : first time I read any Tolkien. Think it was early 1970s.

Anyone else feeling anxious by the way he just flicked the book open, after commenting on the condition of the spine?

First edition freaks!

I love her dress. I had a corduroy ❤April Cornell one like it.

It was here the grandson realized how well he could capitalize on Tolkien's hard work.

If that letter hadn't been "sticky taped" to the book, I'm about 99% sure it would be gone by now. I like it, and I think it adds authenticity to the book. The hell with what he says

To me she sounded disappointed.

This is so cool!

Man it looks like the old copy I’ve got at home I’ll have to check mine out

She thought it’d be much more! Classic.

I yelled out “two hundred grand”, just as the guy says “three and a half thousand.”

It's probably worth tens of thousands now not only because it's even older but the movies. I can't even imagine

i read a first edition version from my elementary school. i read it so often that the librarian gave it to me. And one day, i left it on the bus on the way to JC. i was heart broken at the realization that i left my tattered companion to the hands of a stranger.

He's complaining about someone taping the letter and it turns out it was probably J R R as it came from his personal library

I mean that guy is rather large for a hobbit but his ginormous furry toes under the table at 6:14 give him away.

I have one of those. An old family friend was friends with Christopher Tolkien.

I'd have to step away from the book if someone somehow got this for me lest I get it wet from the sobbing. I used to work for a used book store, and I'd occasionally look up first addition copies of The Hobbit so I could daydream of affording one. My favorite book ever.

Isn’t Simon Tolkein the wretched Philistine who’s partly responsible for ‘Rings of Power’?

I’m pretty sure I have this edition. It was my dads and grandfathers. It doesn’t have the dust cover though.

Thought he was a bit rough with the dust wrapper.

Take it to the USA with plenty of forward social media postings beforehand and you will get 1+ Million dollars at auction!

Had a similar one years ago but not original...good to see that cover again

i went to an ARS event at a university in NC that was books only. the biggest score was a large Kama Sutra that was brung to USA from some war in Asia

$3500??? For one of the most important books of the 20th century, 1st edition, unrestored, with dust cover, from Tolkien's personal library??? 6 to 7 figures, based just on the letter and signatures alone. It's totally unique.

Well I'll be buggered, I've got a first edition with a dust cover in near perfect condition. I'll have to check for correction.

Jane has been looking for this the past 30 years.

That would be cherished in my Tolkien collection

Could I just ask for the umpteenth time for the BBC like it’s American counterparts to provide an up to date valuation with these clips

Would be nearer £100k in 2022

You can see she was hoping for more 🤣

A local used bookstore sold a near mint Hobbit first 1st edition for over $5000. It was in better shape but I'm not sure if it had a corrected dust cover. This was about 15 years ago. I'd ask but the owner of the bookstore passed sometime last year.

She was as underwhelmed with the price as we are.

Already trying to pawn off priceless family items in 1990. Little surprise her husband is a ROP consultant.