First Edition of The Hobbit Tops Major Science Fiction and Fantasy Auction

One of the 1,500 copies of the first edition, first impression of The Hobbit in an unrestored and bright dust jacket was the highest seller at Heritage Auctions' David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy, Part I Rare Books sale making $450,000.

This is a record for a copy of the book and for the auction price of any J. R. R. Tolkien title, and the auction included other significant Tolkien lots including a first edition second impression presentation copy of The Hobbit inscribed by the author to the family housekeeper and given as a Christmas gift ($100,000), and a set of first impression, first edition copies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy ($325,000) which represented an uninscribed-copy record.

Other recordbreaking highlights included:

• a group of all three dedication copies of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), inscribed to Robert Cornog, Frederic Brown, and Philip José Farmer ($118,750, a record for any work by Heinlein at auction)
• a dedication copy of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot inscribed to editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction John W. Campbell Jr. ($87,500, the record for this book and for any Asimov title at auction) “For: John W. Campbell, Jr. / Believe me, the dedication is insufficient acknowledgement of your many helpful talks with me! / Isaac Asimov / 12/2/50.”
• a special publisher’s copy of the first edition of Stephen King’s 1980 Firestarter ($75,000, a record price for any King book at auction), one of just 26, a signed limited issue of the first edition bound in aluminum-covered asbestos cloth and labeled “B,” indicating it was the second copy of the book and belonged to Phantasia Press co-owner Sid Altus
• a first American edition in the jellyfish binding of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, setting the world record for the title in any language at $40,000, and distinguished by the title on the cover lacking the pluralizing “s” after “Sea,” - extremely scarce, as most copies were lost in the Great Boston Fire of 1872 which happened the month of publication
• a review copy of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, ($37,500 , a record for this title and for any work by Dick at auction)
• a first edition of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 Brave New World ($32,500, a record for any Huxley work)

The sale also set a record for any science fiction library sold at auction with a total of $3,353,626. Part II of the David Aronovitz Collection will be held in December and Part III in spring 2027