When you think of where hobbits can be found, you might think of the Shire. But it turns out that Marquette University in Milwaukee is also a prime location.
The J.R.R. Tolkien collection at Marquette dates back nearly 60 years and includes thousands of books, manuscripts, drawings, paintings, films and even handwritten notes and drafts of chapters.
But a new addition to the collection is the source of quite a bit of excitement. It’s a first edition, first printing copy of "The Hobbit," which Marquette recently acquired for an undisclosed sum at auction in London.
"It’s not a unique item, but it is rare. There were only 1,500 that were printed when "The Hobbit" was published in 1937," said William Fliss, an archivist at Marquette University Raynor Memorial Libraries and curator of the J.R.R. Tolkien Collection.
Fliss said it is an important acquisition for an already impressive collection. "If our 'Hobbit' materials at Marquette were like a smile, we’ve had this gap tooth and now the smile is complete," he said.
In the five years Fliss has been curating the Tolkien collection, he’s had the goal of acquiring this specific item. And that anticipation made the actual purchase that much more satisfying. In addition, he said that while the book is missing its original dust jacket, it’s in excellent shape, and the illustrations of the story in this edition are Tolkien’s own.
"It was a great moment to be able to bring it in and to put it alongside the other amazing things we have here, as far as 'The Hobbit' goes, most notably all the manuscripts that went into the writing of the story," Fliss said. "It’s just kind of like the cherry on the sundae, the natural end point for the collection."
