SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, September 13, 2002 — Borders Books & Music in the Crossroads Mall is proud to welcome leading American Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson, author of the newly revised and expanded edition of The Annotated Hobbit (Houghton Mifflin). He will be presenting a slide show and discussion of Tolkien’s work at the downtown Borders on Tuesday, October 8 at 7pm, upstairs in the cafe.
Widely acknowledged as the worldwide expert on the textual history of Tolkien’s classic novel The Hobbit, the tale of Bilbo Baggins and precursor to The Lord of the Rings, Anderson has contributed notes for all Houghton Mifflin Tolkien editions for more than a decade. This newly expanded, revised, and completely redesigned edition of The Annotated Hobbit is the authoritative explication of the sources, references, characters, places and things of the timeless novel. The many new annotations in this edition reflect more than a decade’s additional scholarship on the history and evolution of the book, showing how Tolkien worked as a writer, what his interests and inspirations were (literary, linguistic, and otherwise), and how these pertain to the fascinating particulars of Middle-earth.
Integrated with Anderson’s notes and placed alongside the fully restored and corrected text of the original story are more than 150 lavish illustrations from all over the world. This artwork displays vivid visual interpretations of The Hobbit specific to each of the cultures– from Japan to Estonia, Finland to Romania– that have embraced Middle-earth. Many of Tolkien’s original line drawings, maps, diagrams, and color paintings are also included. Douglas Anderson’s presentation is entitled “Annotating and Illustrating The Hobbit,” demonstrating how the book has been professionally illustrated over the years and covers the background of J. R. R. Tolkien and his writings.
With the current resurgence of interest in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the large fan base in the Salt Lake area, this author presentation is sure to be a big hit.
