Rayner [Unwin] shows Tolkien the sample illustration by Maurice Sendak for the proposed Houghton Mifflin illustrated Hobbit. Rayner will write to Austin Olney on 20 February that Tolkien was not ‘wildly happy about the proportions of the figures’ in the Sendak drawing (…) Tolkien, J. R. R. (1981). Carpenter, Humphrey; Tolkien, Christopher (eds.). The letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0395315552. OCLC 7671235.

Matthews, Dorothy (1975). "The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins". A Tolkien Compass. Open Court Publishing. pp. 27–40. ISBN 978-0-87548-303-0. As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters and their interactions. He portrays Bilbo as a modern anachronism exploring an essentially antique world. Bilbo is able to negotiate and interact within this antique world because language and tradition make connections between the two worlds. For example, Gollum's riddles are taken from old historical sources, while those of Bilbo come from modern nursery books. It is the form of the riddle game, familiar to both, which allows Gollum and Bilbo to engage each other, rather than the content of the riddles themselves. This idea of a superficial contrast between characters' individual linguistic style, tone and sphere of interest, leading to an understanding of the deeper unity between the ancient and modern, is a recurring theme in The Hobbit. [33] Lewis compares the book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland, Phantastes, and The Wind in the Willows. [114] W. H. Auden, in his review of the sequel The Fellowship of the Ring, calls The Hobbit "one of the best children's stories of this century". [115] Auden was later to correspond with Tolkien, and they became friends.Walne, Toby (21 November 2007). "How to make a killing from first editions". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 . Retrieved 5 July 2008. Flieger, Verlyn (2005). Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien's Mythology. Kent State University Press. p.67. ISBN 978-0-87338-824-5. Tolkien] agrees to a reduced royalty on the Houghton Mifflin illustrated Hobbit subject to Allen & Unwin’s advice (…) In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle-game, and he and Bilbo part amicably. [7] In the second edition edits, to reflect the new concept of the One Ring and its corrupting abilities, Tolkien made Gollum more aggressive towards Bilbo and distraught at losing the ring. The encounter ends with Gollum's curse, "Thief! Thief, Thief, Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!" This presages Gollum's portrayal in The Lord of the Rings. [52] Martin, Ann (2006). Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Bed: Modernism's Fairy Tales. University of Toronto Press. p.38. ISBN 978-0-8020-9086-7. ... —prefigure the bourgeois preoccupations of J. R. R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

Tolkien, Christopher, ed. (1983). The History of Middle-earth: Vol 1 "The Book of Lost Tales 1". George Allen & Unwin. pp.43–44. ISBN 978-0-04-823238-0. Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-04-928037-3. Sammons, Martha C. (2010). War of the Fantasy Worlds: C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien on Art and Imagination. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.6. ISBN 978-0-313-36282-8. Media Release". Harbourfront Centre. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2017. When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, the most-treasured heirloom of Thorin's family, and hides it away. The Wood-elves and Lake-men request compensation for Lake-town's destruction and settlement of old claims on the treasure. When Thorin refuses to give them anything, they besiege the mountain. However, Thorin manages to send a message to his kinfolk in the Iron Hills and reinforces his position. Bilbo slips out and gives the Arkenstone to the besiegers, hoping to head off a war. When they offer the jewel to Thorin in exchange for treasure, Bilbo reveals how they obtained it. Thorin, furious at what he sees as betrayal, banishes Bilbo, and battle seems inevitable when Dáin Ironfoot, Thorin's second cousin, arrives with an army of dwarf warriors.

Uffindell, Matthew; Passey, Chris (May 1984). "Playing The Game" (jpg). Crash. 1 (4): 43 . Retrieved 6 July 2008. The Hobbit is set in Middle-earth and follows home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit of the title, who joins the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves that make up Thorin Oakenshield's Company, on a quest to reclaim the dwarves' home and treasure from the dragon Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory. Tolkien’s second foray into the world was The Silmarillion but publishers rejected it as too dense – Tolkien agreed ‘they were quite right’ and later revised the text. He returned to his earlier notes for the three volumes ( The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) that would become The Lord of the Rings, a book that was to take him fourteen years to write. Tony Di Terlizzi. ‘The Hobbit’ illustrated by Maurice Sendak? The 1960s masterpiece that could have been.