Any Texas residents who live near the A&M University may want mark February 27th on their calendar – particularly those of you who are fans of author George R.R. Martin (the creator of the Game of Thrones universe).

The University has announced that he will stopping by on that date for a ceremony beginning at 11 A.M., which will see him presenting a first edition copy of Professor Tolkien’s The Hobbit as a gift to the university. It will be the University Libraries’ 5 millionth acquisition.

The first edition of The Hobbit, many of you surely know, is Tolkien’s version of the story before certain changes were made to bring it more in line with The Lord of the Rings – chief of which was the different version of the “Riddles in the Dark” chapter.

Before presenting the book to the University, Martin will read a few pages from Tolkien’s novel. Both the campus community and the public are invited to the ceremony, free of charge. At the present time, it does not appear that the author will be doing and meet & greet or autograph sessions with fans. We will update this story if that changes.

For more information on the event, contact Patrick Zinn at 979-845-4265 or pzinn@library.tamu.edu.