Celebrating the 80th anniversary of publication of "The Hobbit"

I learned from the awesome (and sometimes racy) @PulpLibrarian Twitter account that today is the 80th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. For your afternoon enjoyment while having tea and seed cakes, here's a gallery of some covers of The Hobbit from across the decades and around the world.

First Impression of first UK edition
published September 21, 1937, by George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

1942 edition by Foyles (UK) for a children's book club

1962, first Portuguese edition (António Quadros, illustrator)

1973, Finland (Tove Jansson, illustrator)

1957 German edition (Horace Engels, illustrator)

1976, Soviet Union (Mikhail Belomlinsky, illustrator)

1982, published in Soviet Union, with English text

1975, Romania (Livia Rusz, illustrator)

1994, Russia (N. Martynowa, illustrator)

1992 paperback, France (cover art by Roger Garland)

1960, The Netherlands (Cees Kelfkens, illustrator)

1961 Puffin paperback by Penguin (UK); cover art by Pauline Baynes

Related links

• The Hobbithunter, website of collector Henk Brassien
• Collider: The Hobbit [30th anniversary edition] Was Almost Illustrated by Maurice Sendak
• Tolkien Library: Books by J.R.R.Tolkien - The Hobbit
• Nerdalicious: "Ten of the Weirdest Book Covers for The Hobbit"
• Open Culture: "Soviet-Era Illustrations Of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1976)"
• Tolkien Collector's Guide