The Russian publisher Sezonoj has just published a reprint of the second edition of La Hobito, world famous work by J.R.R. Tolkien, as the ninth volume of the Mondliteraturo series of books.
Translated by Christopher J. Gledhill and William Auld* (only the poems), La Hobito first appeared in the Esperanto world in 2000 and again in 2005, in both cases selling rapidly, and now reappears with small corrections to small typographical errors. This time one also expects good sales for the book, thanks to the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is the first of a three-part film series with the second part soon to be released.
The 224-page book includes a three-color cover by Masha Bajenova, who also designed 19 pictures for the book (one for each chapter), a map, and etymological notes on the names in Tolkien’s work.
The book is available now from the book service of the UEA [Univeral Esperanto Association], from Sezonoj in Kaliningrad and from Svetlana Smetanina in Moscow, for 18 Euros. The wonder tale also will be sold at a special discount price during the 49th Baltic Esperanto Days to be held in Utena, Lithuania, and the 29th “Artistic Confrontations in Esperanto” in Poznan, Poland. The fifth chapter of the book can be read for free on the archive site of ‘La Balta Ondo’.
* [I should mention that William Auld was also the Esperanto translator of The Lord of the Rings — Ostadan]
PS. The Bajenova drawings, from the 2000 edition, can be seen here.
