Editing The Hobbit (section)

=== Illustration and design ===

{{see|J. R. R. Tolkien's artwork}}

[[File:Hobbit runes.png|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Anglo-Saxon runes]] and their English letter values,<ref>{{harvnb|Tolkien|2003|pages=378–379}}</ref> used in Tolkien's ''The Hobbit'' illustrations]]

Tolkien's correspondence and publisher's records show that he was involved in the design and illustration of the entire book. All elements were the subject of considerable correspondence and fussing over by Tolkien. Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: "In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin... detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite and exasperatingly precise... I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention."<ref>{{harvnb|Tolkien|2003|page=14}}</ref>

Even the maps, of which Tolkien originally proposed five, were considered and debated. He wished ''Thror's Map'' to be tipped in (that is, glued in after the book has been bound) at first mention in the text, and with the ''moon letter'' [[runes]] on the reverse so they could be seen when held up to the light.<ref name="Anderson 2003 page=22"/> In the end the cost, as well as the shading of the maps, which would be difficult to reproduce, resulted in the final design of two maps as endpapers, ''Thror's map'', and the ''Map of Wilderland'' (see [[Rhovanion]]), both printed in black and red on the paper's cream background.<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|Anderson|1993|page=18}}</ref>

Originally Allen & Unwin planned to illustrate the book only with the endpaper maps, but Tolkien's first tendered sketches so charmed the publisher's staff that they opted to include them without raising the book's price despite the extra cost. Thus encouraged, Tolkien supplied a second batch of illustrations. The publisher accepted all of these as well, giving the first edition ten black-and-white illustrations plus the two endpaper maps. The illustrated scenes were: ''The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water'', ''The [[Troll (Middle-earth)|Trolls]]'', ''The Mountain Path'', ''The [[Misty Mountains]] looking West from the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate'', ''[[Beorn]]'s Hall'', ''[[Mirkwood]]'', ''[[Thranduil|The Elvenking]]'s Gate'', ''[[Esgaroth|Lake Town]]'', ''The [[Lonely Mountain|Front Gate]]'', and ''The Hall at [[Bag End|Bag-End]]''. All but one of the illustrations were a full page, and one, the Mirkwood illustration, required a separate plate.<ref>{{harvnb|Hammond|Anderson|1993|pages=10–11}}</ref>

Satisfied with his skills, the publishers asked Tolkien to design a dust jacket. This project, too, became the subject of many iterations and much correspondence, with Tolkien always writing disparagingly of his own ability to draw. The runic inscription around the edges of the illustration are a phonetic [[transliteration]] of English, giving the title of the book and details of the author and publisher.<ref>{{cite book |last=Flieger |first=Verlyn |author-link=Verlyn Flieger |title=Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien's Mythology |title-link=Interrupted Music |publisher=Kent State University Press |year= 2005 |isbn=978-0-87338-824-5 |page=67}}</ref> The original jacket design contained several shades of various colours, but Tolkien redrew it several times using fewer colours each time. His final design consisted of four colours. The publishers, mindful of the cost, removed the red from the sun to end up with only black, blue, and green ink on white stock.<ref name=Hammond12-13>{{harvnb|Hammond|Anderson|1993|pages=12–13}}</ref>

The publisher's production staff designed a binding, but Tolkien objected to several elements. Through several iterations, the final design ended up as mostly the author's. The spine shows runes: two "[[Thurisaz (rune)|þ]]" ([[Thráin II|Thrain]] and Thror) runes and one "[[Dagaz|d]]" (door). The front and back covers were mirror images of each other, with an elongated dragon characteristic of Tolkien's style stamped along the lower edge, and with a sketch of the Misty Mountains stamped along the upper edge.<ref name="Hammond 1993 page=14">{{harvnb|Hammond|Anderson|1993|page=14}}</ref>

[[File:The Hobbit book covers by Tove Jansson.jpg|thumb|Swedish and Finnish book covers of ''The Hobbit'' illustrated by [[Tove Jansson]] ]]

Once illustrations were approved for the book, Tolkien proposed colour plates as well. The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later. Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece (''The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water'') in colour and the addition of new colour plates: ''Rivendell'', ''Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes'', ''Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves'' and ''Conversation with [[Smaug]]'', which features a [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|dwarvish]] curse written in Tolkien's invented script [[Tengwar]], and signed with two "þ" ("Th") runes.<ref>{{harvnb|Rateliff|2007|page=602}}</ref> The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of ''Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes''.<ref name="Hammond 1993 page=20">{{harvnb|Hammond|Anderson|1993|page=20}}</ref>

Different editions have been illustrated in diverse ways. Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions. Some cheaper editions, particularly paperback, are not illustrated except with the maps. "The Children's Book Club" edition of 1942 includes the black-and-white pictures but no maps, an anomaly.<ref name="cbc">{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |title=The Hobbit |publisher=The Children's Book Club |location=London |year=1942}}</ref> [[Douglas A. Anderson|Douglas Anderson]]'s ''[[The Annotated Hobbit]]'' is illustrated with many black-and-white drawings taken from translations of the story into some 25 languages.{{sfn|Tolkien|1988|loc=Illustrations throughout the book; list of translations on pp. 332–333}}{{sfn|Tolkien|2003|loc=Illustrations throughout the book; list of translations on pp. 386–396}}

Tolkien's use of runes, both as decorative devices and as magical signs within the story, has been cited as a major cause for the popularization of runes within "[[New Age]]" and [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] literature,<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Klaus |editor-last=Duwel |last=Elliot |first=Ralph W. V. |author-link=Ralph Elliott |title=Runeninschriften Als Quelle Interdisziplinärer Forschung |chapter='Runes in English Literature' From Cynewulf to Tolkien |language=de, en |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1998 |pages=663–664 |isbn=978-3-11-015455-9}}</ref> stemming from Tolkien's popularity with the elements of [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counter-culture]] in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plowright |first=Sweyn |title=The Rune Primer: A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Runes |publisher=Rune-Net Press |year=2006 |page=137 |isbn=978-0-9580435-1-9}}</ref>