THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT
VOLUME I: MR. BAGGINS
VOLUME II: RETURN TO BAG-END 

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

From 1988 through 1992, J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher published a four volume series The History of The Lord of the Rings which were an examination of Tolkien's writing process in creating The Lord of the Rings.  John D. Rateliff has taken a similar approach to Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit. In two volumes, Mr. Baggins and Return to Bag-End, Rateliff traces the various variants of Tolkien's drafts to see how different aspects of The Hobbit evolved from a time when Smaug was named Pryftan until the book achieved its final form.

By its very nature, The History of the Hobbit is aimed at those who have already have discovered and love The Hobbit.  Rateliff republishes the text of The Hobbit several times, and each time it is different, sometimes in major ways, other times in more minor ways.  For instance, a line that appeared in Tolkien's finished book as:

"O! are they?" said Thorin, and he jumped forward to the fire, before they could leap on him. He caught up a big branch all on fire at one end; and Bert got that end in his eye before he could step aside. That put him out of the battle for a bit. Bilbo did his best. He caught hold of Tom's leg-as well as he could, it was thick as a young tree truck-but he was sent spinning up into the top of some bushes, when Tom kicked the sparks up in Thorin's face.

was, in one earlier version: 

"O are they?" said Gandalf, "Bladorthin will make them sorry for it when he comes back." This was a bluff, for he did not know whetehr Bladorthin ever was coming back; and he didn't know whether the Trolls knew his name well enough to be scared of it. And he leaped forward to the fire before they could jump on him. He caught up a big branch all afire at one end; and Bert got an end in his eye before he could step aside. That put him out of the battle for a bit. Bilbo did his best. He caught hold of Tom's leg (as well as he could, it was thick as a young tree truck) but he was sent spinning up into the top of some bushes, when Tom kicked the sparks up in Gandalf's face.

Other changes are major, for instance, in the earlier version, the character of Gandalf ultimately had his named changed to Thorin, while the Bladorthin of the earlier passage was the Gandalf known from the final book and The Lord of the Rings.

In addition to providing alternative versions of the text, and perhaps more important to those alternatives, Rateliff provides copious textual notes in which he points out the changes Tolkien made, often offering explanations for the changes and discussion of the evolution the characters, settings, and plot went through from Tolkien's earliest extant manuscripts to the final finished book.  All these variants and exegesis are the reason The History of the Hobbit is three times as long as Tolkien's original book.

However, The History of the Hobbit can not, and should not, be read linearly.  Although the story of Bilbo Baggins's quest to the Lonely Mountain is included within the text of the book, it is included many times over, and only short portions of it occur in any semblance of a narrative format.  For this reason, The History of the Hobbit is not recommended for those with a less than thorough knowledge of Tolkien's story, although the two books can be read together and an interesting exercise in the understanding the creative process. Taken together with Diana Pavlac Glyer's recently published The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, The History of the Hobbit, or, indeed, The History of The Lord of the Rings adds even more to the points Glyer made concerning the collaborative process behind Tolkien's work.

Fans of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, and those interested in the process of creative writing should enjoy reading The History of the Hobbit.  For those unfamiliar with The Hobbit or with only a passing interest in the book, The History of the Hobbit offers up too much detail. The audience for these books would appear to be self-selecting, although given the appeal of Tolkien's writing, especially in the wake of Peter Jackson's cinematic vision of The Lord of the Rings and his upcoming version of The Hobbit, these books will do much better than the strictly academic audience which they might otherwise garner.

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