Incredibly Rare First Edition Copy Of The Hobbit! | Antiques Roadshow
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- All valuations were correct at the time of broadcast. Could this first edition copy of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, published in 1937, be worth more than all the gold in the Lonely Mountain? Hugh Scully and the experts from Antiques Roadshow take a look at some fantastic antiques and the history and stories surrounding them. This clip was filmed in Islington in 1990.
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Wait, what?
“Look at this incredibly rare book - how could you ever have come into possession of this, Mrs Tolkien?”
Hahaha 😂
Since this clip was filmed, I wonder how much it's value has gone up? Beautiful book, love to have it.
He said it was worth 3000ish. For sure it's at least 10x that. With a hand written note from Tolkien himself, probably ever more.
*its value
@@joshlewis575 same was sold on auction for $210,500 without letter from Tolkien
@@msresu Same condition?
@@msresu and the letter is the most valuable part of it
She says her husband is Tolkien's grandson and he just ignores her completely...wow.
I’ve seen this clip before, it’s weird how it just avoids all context of that.
@darthmarticusLFC yup. I remembered pretty early on I've seen it before and the whole provenance was just thrown out the door.
its probably "not good for tv" to say, oh my husband is his grandson and they just gave him this book while they were throwing things out.
they want to hear, you found it in a dumpster type of stuff. Nobody cares when rich families have rich things.
@cchavezjr7 that's what I was thinking, u have a hand written letter from the man himself included with the 1st edition. Hope she didn't sell, it's worth way more than that fella was thinking. Even back then
His non-reaction suggests that this was all set up beforehand between the Tolkien family and the AR producers. You see this all the time with so-called "reality" shows. Some of the most obvious (ridiculous) non-reactions happen on the Pawn Stars show when unbelievably rare and expensive items are inexplicably brought into their Las Vegas pawn shop instead of say, a high-end auction house (like Sotheby's, etc).
I suspect the value of that book has somewhat increased since a new generation has been introduced to Tolkien.
First editions now go for 100 times that price.
My husband is Tolkien’s grandson
“Yes but he hasn’t used a dust wrapper I’m afraid”
Okay………….
I think he massively undervalued that even for 1990. These days a signed first edition of the Hobbitt is going to go for £100,000 that personalised letter from Tolkien adds huge value as this is the only one in the world to have this note from Tolkien. He was wide of of the Mark here.
That valuation had the impact of an Austin Powers movie when Dr. Evil asks for a ransom of one million dollars in today's money. I am sure thirty+ years and a few Tolkien movies later that the valuation has gone up a little bit.
I can't even imagine what that book would go for now after all the movies and likely ne wealthy collectors. Stuff like that has to be very, very rare. Probably looking at mid to high 6 figures I'd guess for the right buyer.
One sold in 2012 for $210,000 but it was in mint condition - this one according to a quick look would be $50,000+
@@EvilFinian This one probably has extra value, even at this condition, to collectors now because it came from the personal library of the Tolkien family. That's a bragging right rich people love to have. "Oh, my first edition came directly from the horses ass, and I own it now"
I like how he doesn’t mention that the chapter riddles in the dark is completely different in the first edition
Worth millions now I’d imagine.
These guys are hired to get views. The items are NEVER worth a fraction of what they claim.
@@malcolmdrake6137utter bullshit
Today you could add two zeros and two bodyguards to this, If this book would ever come to this show again
I became friends with the illustrator of that book at an art gallery under very fun circumstances. Barbara was such a talented and cool person…
Today, this would be worth many times that!
Dude built this up like it was going to be her retirement fund
Now worth GBP 80,000+ in that condition with the author's signature.
Imagine checking this book out of your library and returning it because of late fees. You could have had your hands on a treasure.😂
l have a copy of this book but not sure if it's a First Edition. It has the same dust cover, so was wondering if 2nd edition had the same cover.
Isn't Simon Tolkien the one who, against the explicit desires of both his father and grandfather, sold the film rights to Amazon?
Either way the films were still going to be made, as well as the Amazon series. The family was always going to be handsomely rewarded for it. Simon just thought they should have an association with the film makers, with the rest of the family preferring not to. Not much different than most families, with different opinions, egos and such.
yeah but the movies wouldn't exist without him either
I felt the lady was anticipating more. 😬
I bet it’s worth a lot more than that now thanks to the movie franchise.
"I could give you maybe 50 bucks for it, and I'm taking a huge risk here." -Pawn Stars.
A half barrel of pipe-weed, and not a leaf more. Hobbits are scarce, so it's going to sit on the shelf a long time.
It's worth ... a small chest of gold.
3500 pounds? Try 350,000 pounds.
I was quite excited at the mention that the lady was a Tolkien ... then the Shadow that is Simon was brought forth. To be fair, I do feel sorry for him - to try to be an author when your grandsire is such a cultural icon was never going to go well. So it is no surprise that the fellow is not as proud of his lineage or his grandfathers works as you might imagine.
I do believe his appraisal was very low. I don't have alot of $ but would buy that book at that price. I mean, a first addition of harry potter is 25k.
This was 33 years ago and not pristine condition.
I had that book with that dust cover, except my dust cover was in near perfect condition. Did subsequent print runs use the same dust cover? I just want to know if I threw away a fortune.
If you buy a copy of The Hobbit today in hardback it'll most likely have the same dust cover as the first edition. The only editions I've seen with different dust covers are illustrated versions of The Hobbit.
yes you did, the copy I had, 5th edition in the same jacket with scribbling all over the maps and inscribed 'to Andrew love Mummy', raised £92,000 at auction.
It's the most reprinted jacket. Unless it was pre WW2, it's not much
I have a signed copy of the first edition of the Hobbit. I have 1 signed copy of the first edition of Lord of the Rings and also have 3 signed copies of the separated trilogy books. I also have a first edition of The Lays of Beleriand signed by Christopher. They are not for sale, they are precious to me. This book dealer had totally underestimated the value of this book. £3.5k, he wants it to sell it on. Typical BBC. It is worth at least £15k in it's condition.
This was 1990 .
@@pj006marsden Wow, then the price was really good. Thank you for the update. I still won't sell mine though. They are.... You know the score.
Isn't Simon now head of the estate?
He's a Director and was a consultant for the Amazon series (as well as an author in his own right). Probably doesn't need to sell this book ;)
Didnt Tolken tape the letter?
The estimate of £3,500 seems a bit low. The highest price currently listed on ABE books for a signed first edition is USD $475,000.
Isn’t this clip about thirty years old?
"This clip was filmed in Islington in 1990." 33 years actually.
more than 30 years and several very successful movies later you can easily add a bunch of zeros to the value
Maybe a couple, but no more. 210K were paid in 2015 for one like that, with a handwritten letter in Elvish from J. R
Sorry, people just do not read anymore. Prices for collectible books continues to plummet.
With so much inflation / money printing recently, im sure its worth more.
Very successful movies and not so successful TV series
@@6thface "Plummet?" Incorrect (and in most cases, quite the opposite).
This book has become precious to me, I will see no harm come to it
Protect the precioussss!
Oh it's your PRECIOUS
@@peterlarkin762 “Precious?” It’s been called that before, but not by you.
Love it!
@@stevendebettencourt7651 😆😆
Could you imagine being the great-grandchild of Tolkien and your parents sold this instead of treating it as a family heirloom ?
I’d be furious. If I had this, you couldn’t buy it from me for anything shy of enough money to set myself and my children up for the rest of our lives.
If we already had that wealth, there is no sum of money on earth that would get me to part with it.
It happens very often, and this is a pretty good case of why it's such a terrible thing. You see this a lot on shows like Pawn Stars too, and it's even worse in that case because they're clearly scamming you and you can't even bother to get a real price for whatever it is. Anything to make a quick buck or two I guess.
Some people prefer the money over the book. Maybe they need it. You’re making an ignorant assumption
Remind me, antiques roadshow appraises antiques, correct? So there is no obligation to sell. It's fun knowing you have a valuable heirloom, doesn't imply she ever sold it. Could have just come on the show for the experience, or to appraise its insurance value.
Simon has always been jealous of his grandfather.
That book with the personal letter from Tolkien and orginal dust cover sold for (💷137,000.00) in 2015. Thats USD $210,000.00 in 2015. Today in USD that be $267,430.44 & in UK (💷211,683.50).
id like to read it in the bath while drinking coffee and spilling coffee on it - yeah, that what id do if i had that sort of money,
@@SoSo-li6dn because of the sheer rarity/provenance of the thing it likely wouldn't matter too much if you further soiled it tho......
never cared for Tolkien too much myself !
Best I could give is 3,500
@@enmunate *Rick lives!* ♟⭐⭐⭐
What struck me was how beautiful his handwriting was, and while it shouldn't be a surprise, how closely it resembled the rune type things he did when writing the books. It takes either great care or a studied hand to have handwriting that extraordinary.
Sure it’s iconic, but he would have been a writer in his mid-40’s when he penned that letter. It’d be remarkable if a writer had poor handwriting after a lifetime of strict training with ink wells.
@@yeahyeah5976 Ohh phooey there were loads of people with bad handwriting. His style is beautiful and it was surely rare even then.
shut up
His writing style is actually exactly how they write in the movies, I mean same font
Well handwriting was a serious school subject at upper class schools back when he was a child
You'd have thought that "my husband is JRR"s grandson" would have merited at least an "Oh...okay" but nope, no comment whatsoever. Funny as.
Right?! (A true Brit!)
I was expecting a much higher price but I guess you gotta remember the time period this was filmed in
true, the movies didnt exist, only nerds knew this shit
Before the Internet ruined everything...
"Aunt Jane" seems likely to be Jane Neave. There are several letters to her in _The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_. It was at her suggestion (made in 1961) that he published the collection of poems called _The Adventures of Tom Bombadil_.
Great catch! 🙌
Thanks Auntie Jane for the idea!
Wow! That valuation was....a huge anticlimax! I thought he was going to say £100,000. That letter might have been sellotaped in by JRR himself.
The expression on her face was more one of slight disappointment than of joyful surprise. I think she was expecting more.
This was in the 90’s. First editions sell for $500 000 now. This one probably more
@@iwonder1216 Not to mention the popularity of the IP itself has massively increased thanks to 2 very successful trilogies and the Amazon flop that got people interested in the Silmarillion.
Adjusted for inflation, £3,500 British pounds in 1990 was worth £8,145 pounds or $14,500.00 USD ... a high price even then.
I didn't realize they were going to use monopoly money instead of real money to quote her. kinda messed up if you ask me.
I had the same version as a kid around 35 years ago… I doubt it was 1st edition but it looked exactly the same!
#howcanimakethisaboutme
Probably a facimile anniversary edition
@@john_Doe6578 How dare people have a conversation about a topic they share interest in. Better to stay terminally online.
@@john_Doe6578 ur a loser bro hahaa'
@@john_Doe6578 Are you looking for attention? Go back in corner, the adults are talking.
That handwriting in the note is absolutely beautiful......from a time where people still took the time to do things properly and with great care.
If you buy JRR Tolkien's letters from Father Christmas, it's full of his handwriting and drawing!
It also doesn't hurt to be an expert in calligraphy as Tolkien was.
OR simply from a time when you had to handwrite. My handwriting before phones was pretty bad but it was legible. Now it's about 50/50 if I can even decipher notes I take during a conference call.
You don't remember when doctors had to write things do you?
At any given point in history, there have always been people claiming that the previous generations did things better!
I would think that particular book would fetch near a million dollars today in 2023.
@@DanielJones-xj9nt plus the provenance of being a copy that belongs to Tolkien's grandson probably increases the value somewhat.
No, the condition is fair to poor. If it was in better condition and the dust jacket was in better condition, perhaps. Value now at about $75K.
@@petert1692 See below comment from Jacob Natal: "That book with the personal letter from Tolkien and orginal dust cover sold for (£137,000.00) in 2015. Thats USD $210,000.00 in 2015. Today in USD that be $267,430.44 & in UK (£211,683.50)."
You can't expect it to be pristine once it has been There and Back Again
Right?!!
I tried to sell a Lord of the Rings book to a Bangkok book trader in 2001 before the movies came out. He wouldn't take it because he looked at when it was published and it was too old! 🤣🤣🤣
Read it around 1979/80 at age 15 when my English teacher recommended it and I'd never heard of it until then. Then I devoured TLOTR. Then sat in front of the radio every Sunday lunchtime for 6 months listening to the BBC radio play of TLOTR with Ian Holm playing Frodo. Longed for a movie version and a short time later, the animated TLOTR movie was released.
It was an amazing time and age to discover the books.
Then another twenty years before the movie trilogy kicked off.
Let's not talk about the Amazon series.
and then Ian Holm went on to play Bilbo in the movies :D
I was expecting him to say 50K or something, not £3500.
It sold for $48,000 a few months before the movie came out in 2003. Probably worth $500,000 now.
I was ballparking 250K+
You'll be lucky to find original DJ in good shape for 3.5K these days...
My favorite book of all time! I would love to own that copy!
People need to understand the context here.
This was filmed in 1990, before the LOTR films & before Tolkien became a worldwide phenomenon. In 1990 Tolkien was a mildly respected writer with a dedicated cult following--this lady-relative is likely genuine in wondering what the first edition was worth, & 3500 pounds is a reasonable valuation.
Cut to a decade ago, post-films, post-Tolkien-mania, & a first edition in excellent condition sold for almost 150,000 pounds. The valuation for the first edition in this video would be off the charts today.
Tolkien's handwriting is beautiful.
Have you seen his Elvish language handwriting? It’s so beautiful looking.
I give you 5$ not a penny more, I take all the risk
The only thing she cares about is how much she can sell it
Amazing individual…
It is interesting that the Tolkien letter was in a cursive hand-lettered script that resembles the cursive letters in the books.
I believe Tolkien did the cursive letters in the books.
He took great care in every detail. 😌😌
So you could say its precious
Three and a half...
*Eyes open widely*
Thousand pounds!
"Oh! Wow..."
Back when Gollum was happy to give the ring to Bilbo ...
..... and when Elrond was as kind as Christmas.
I had a version that looked like that. Think I put it I a free library. It's not a bad book.
I wish my first edition was signed 😢
My 4th grade teacher read us that book a few dozen pages at a time.
Pura vida guys great book with family history I have one the first edition of the Hobbit but in Spanish edition from 90's 😅🎉❤
funny. he might as well have valued it at $350
That cover design is so pretty compared to some of the more recent covers.
After all..... why shouldnt i keep it
Rick Harrison: "Best I can give you is $35, and it's an offer that rules all other offers. I means, the ring didn't even get destroyed in this book, so I am taking a huge risk here"
Holy shit. The hand writing.
One sold in New York for 250.000 dollars last year . Hope she didn't sell it .
And I'd bet the NY copy had neither the incredible association nor impeccable provenance.
I wish I could go back in time & pick up pristine first editions of books like this. I’d make a fortune. Even Harry Potter first editions are worth a fortune now.
Or go back in time and buy stocks when they were pennies, or buy the company 😊
i.d go back to sit and talk to him
@@MrPeachblossom "Fool of a Took!" 😉
Oh really? I have a couple in mint condition actually (Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince if memory serves). I'll check it out, thanks for the tip!
Curious how much its worth today. It has an actual note from Tolkien? Surely 6 figures.
3 grand? Wow. I bet some 17 year old Tolkien fan with 150,000,000 in crypto and video game streaming contracts would happily drop a mil on it these days.
With the signed note and full provenance, this estimate is criminally low. edit: this was 1990, maybe it was good back then.
Somehow, much less exciting that Tolkien's her husband's grandfather, takes all the mystery out of it
How this isn’t more valuable with the provenance and everything astounds me. What a steal at a few thousand.
I have a first edition copy of The Hobbit, but it isn't signed. My Great Uncle bought it when it first came out. I'd like to sell it, but don't know where to look.
If Tolkien himself taped that in, I think we can forgive him, lol. It will no doubt increase, not decrease the value of the book
"possibly done by tolkien, not sure" he says to the wife of tolkiens grandson who likely even knew tolkien. obviously it was done ny the man himself good grief. this was a really weird clip
Happy Birthday Bilbo and Frodo! (Sept 22)
Also, it'll definitely get more than 3.5k now.
My Mum read us not only the entire Hobbit but also The Lord Of The Rings. My sister was scared. I wasn't 😂.
3:18 How this must have stuck in his craw. J.R.R. would have kept that 'e'--indisputably.
Meanwhile wizards of the coast recently released a lord of the rings themed magic the gathering card expansion with a print of the one ring valued at 2 000 000$ 😓
You can hear his brain after she answers "by marriage."
"Hmm... by marriage... so less nerd points for you then."
I was going to say, she looks quite young to have married a grandson of Tolkien, but it's a 32 year old clip (eek)
The date of the note is important, by the way: September 22 is Bilbo’s birthday (and Frodo’s).
I guessed $300,000 so I won't be asked to appraise anything on this show ever.
This is Tolkien's personal copy??
Mja, coming from a $500.000 watch and a 200k painting this was pretty lacklusting.
I think that was a low valuation
3500 for this and millions for ugly modern art? Art sales seem to be money laundering more than a real measure of cultural and aesthetic impact.
I feel like he is WAY off the mark with that valuation. I guess its not in great condition but I see that going for alot more then that
3500 pounds? LOL, no way I'd sell it at that price, even if I wasn't family.
Only 3.5K?!?! You would be mad to part with this heirloom for anything less than 20 times that.
This was in 1990, so I'm sure it's worth way more now.
Yes well this appraisal was done in 1938, so...
@@HunterShows what? You think this show was in 1938..?
That got to be worth alot a personalize hobbit dedicate dby tolkien himself to anothe of his with quates to spare
I have a first edition Italian Silmarillion. No the same thing. Not the I would ever sell it unless I'm starving.
Idk, seems pretty low for me. But idk anything about book collecting
3500 Pounds is about $4300 USD. Seems low for a first edition Hobbit /w a personalized inscription from Tolkien.
Yes, but the valuation was done in 1990
I have an exact reprint of this edition. The interaction between Bilbo and Gollum is completely different
Tolkien revised it when writing lord of the rings. It’s explained to be bilbos original description of the story.
I have one signed by a Bilbo Baggins, how much would that be worth?
As a fan of Tolkien and an avid collector of many things, I could never sell that.
I don't know what edition it was but my dad used to have a copy just like this
I think it could easily sell for way way more than 3,2k
I've had that cover! It couldn't have been first edition though, could it? I'm assuming it must have been a copy of some sort.
correct. The publisher kept printing the same cover for many decades. Given it was painted by JRR himself, it was a good idea to keep using it
@@peterlawson8563 Ahhh, that makes sense. Thanks for that info, would have been upset if I had a first edition and didn't know it.
Shocked at the low value of this one.
@@PtolemyJones remember this was 30 years ago. I reckon the valuation now would be many multiples of that now, easily add a zero ...
It's one of the more popular editions and probably the least expensive hardback version since its marketed as the kid's version rather than the adult one. I currently have it and its probably the nicest of the Tolkien editions I own.