This brand new, shorter edition of the critically acclaimed work includes J.R.R. Tolkien's complete draft manuscript of The Hobbit, together with notes about its history, and is perfect for readers of all ages wishing to know more about how he came to write his beloved masterpiece. A Brief History of the Hobbit presents the complete unpublished text of the original manuscript of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff's lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. As well as recording important changes made to the story both before and after publication, it examines why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien's ever-growing concept of Middle-earth. The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its successor, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that grew in the telling, and many characters and story threads in the published text are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their fireside reads. Like Christopher Tolkien's History of The Lord of the Rings before it, this is an invaluable companion to one of the most treasured stories in English literature. It offers fascinating new insights for those who have grown up with this enchanting tale, and will delight those who are about to enter Bilbo's round door for the first time.