Freeman's Features First Editions, Including 1937 First Issue of "The Hobbit"
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Literary enthusiasts and avid collectors of first editions need not look hard to find items worth seeking in Freeman's forthcoming Sept. 28th Books, Maps & Manuscripts sale. Leading the literature section of the sale is a first edition, first issue copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back, published in London in 1937 by George Allen & Unwin (Lot 244). With its first state dust jacket (containing the notable misprint "Dodgeson" for "Dodgson), seven full-page illustrations and map endpapers, this near-fine copy is expected to elicit strong participation from interested parties. Complementing Tolkien's fantastical classic is a complete, attractive set of A.A. Milne's Christopher Robin Books (Lot 250). The set comprises first trade editions of When We Were Very Young (1924), Winnie-The-Pooh (1926), Now We are Six (1927) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), each retaining its original gilt-pictorial and gilt-paneled colored cloth and intact dust jackets. The individual volumes are embellished with compelling decorations by E.H. Shepard, and Winnie The-Pooh has additional pictorial endpapers depicting a bird's-eye-view of the "100 Akre Wood." Other notable first editions in the sale include: Lot 234, James Joyce's, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1916) and Lot 208, a five-volume set of Charles Dickens's Christmas Books, which includes a first edition, third issue of Dickens's beloved classic, A Christmas Carol. Freeman's Books, Maps, and Manuscripts Auction will take place at 10am on September 28, 2017 at 1808 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA. Exhibition will be open Sunday, September 24 at 12pm-5pm, and Monday, September 25 through Wednesday, September 27: 10am-5pm.
