Errata

The History of The Hobbit: Mr. Baggins & Return to Bag-End

Page xxviii
"Finally, I will also be establishing a website (www.JohnDRateliff.homestead.com) to list errata and changes as new material becomes available"
Change To
". . . establishing a website (http://www.sacnothscriptorium.com/) to list errata and changes as new material becomes available; I have also started a blog, 'Sacnoth's Scriptorium' (http://sacnoths.blogspot.com) which features updates on all things Tolkienian, among other topics."
Page xxxi, under LotR
"a second printing of volumes II [1954] and III [1955]."
Change To
"a second printing of volumes II [1955] and III [1955]."
Page 106
'Trolls Hill' (Plate VI [bottom])
Change To
'Trolls' Hill' (Plate IV [bottom])
Notes
The Plate reference is wrong.
Page 184
"whether due to influence or parallel inspiration."
Change To
"whether due to influence or parallel inspiration or an untraced common source."
Notes
This third possibility should have been included.
Plate III, bottom caption (after Page 216)
"Below Gandalf on the doorstep at BagNote: End."
Change To
"Below Gandalf on the doorstep at BagNote: End."
Notes
The directional should have been italicize. A small point, but errata is errata.
Page 247 TN14
'turn[ing] their sins into arctic fox'
Change To
'turn[ing] their skins into arctic fox'
Notes
Simply a typo. This error has been fixed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 260
"but the original with its touch of colour has so far as I know never been published before"
Change To
The trade paperback edition here drops the word before (". . . has so far as I know never been published").
Notes
The reason for this change is that, because of a misunderstanding on my part, I failed to get the publishers the colour image in time, and as a result the artwork on Plate VI [bottom] was in fact reproduced in black white in both editions (original hardcover and corrected trade paperback). I have now made sure the right image is in the hands of the publisher, so that if the book eventually sees a second edition the red flames of the fire will at last show through as Tolkien intended.
Page 356, TN6
"accidentally created in 1947 (see p. 000)."
Change To
"accidentally created in 1947."
Notes
This slip was fixed for the trade paperback edition.
Page 400, 10–11 lines down
"white aniNote: Mals"
Change To
"white aniNote: mals"
Notes
The superfluous Upper Case has been removed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 417
"It must be potent wine to made a woofNote: elf drowsy"
Change To
"It must be a potent wine to make a woodNote: elf drowsy"
Notes
This typo has been fixed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 473, sixth line:
"he would often borrowed"
Change To
"often borrow".
Notes
This error has been fixed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 481
"(cf. Page 000 and DAA.95)"
Change To
"(cf. pp. 115–16 and DAA.95)"
Notes
This slip has been fixed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 486, fifth line of inset quote from BLT
"loathy"
Change To
"loathly".
Page 486, inset quote
". . . they saw that the land had become all barren and was blasted for a great distance about the ancient caverns of the Rodothlim [NargNote: othrond], and the trees were crushed to the earth or snapped. Toward the hills a black heath stretched and the lands were scored with the great slots that that loathly worm made in his creeping . . ."

"Now was that band aghast as they looked upon that region from afar, yet they prepared them for battle, and drawing lots sent one of their number . . . to that high place upon the confines of the withered land . . ."
Notes
All copies I've seen of the Houghton Mifflin hardcover edition have a thumbprintNote: shaped area in this inset quote where the ink is largely missing, rendering some words illegible in each line; I have provided the text as it should read here to redress the effects of this minor printing flaw.
Page 519 TN21
"and Appendix I (particularly Pages 229–31) of Lexicography and the OED: Pioneers in the Untrodden Forest, ed. Lynda Mugglestone, Appendix I (particularly Pages 229–31)."
Change To
"and Lexicography and the OED: Pioneers in the Untrodden Forest, ed. Lynda Mugglestone, Appendix I (particularly Pages 229–31)."
Notes
The redundant passage should be deleted.
Page 521 TN27, three lines from end
"(Page 000)"
Change To
"(Page 97)"
Notes
This slip was set right in both the HarperCollins trade paperback edition and the Houghton Mifflin hardcover.
Pages 521–522 TN27
"I am the clueNote: finderNote: this could refer to any of several episodes. It might mean Bilbo finding the key to open the trolls' lair (Page 97, Chapter II) but more likely refers to his discovering the exact application of the moonNote: runes on Thror's Map and thus enabling Thorin & Company to find the keyhole at the exact moment on Durin's Day (Chapter XI)."
Change To
"I am the clueNote: finderNote: this could refer to any of several episodes, but probably alludes to Bilbo's finding the spiderNote: thread and using it to guide his friends through the tangles of Mirkwood in Chapter VIII, since 'clue' originally meant a ball of thread, specifically the one used by Theseus to navigate the labyrinth (cf. the OED). I am grateful to Anders Stenström for drawing this etymology to my attention."
Page 522 TN27
"I am come from the end of a bagNote: e.g., the name of Bilbo's home"
Change To
"I am come from the end of a bagNote: cf. the name of Bilbo's home"
Page 523 TN30, second line
"e.g., 'Bilbo's friends . . ."
Change To
"i.e., 'Bilbo's friends . . ."
Notes
Again, I am grateful to Anders Stenström for drawing my attention to both of these errors.
Page 601, third line from bottom
"see Page 000"
Change To
"see Page 496"
Notes
This replaces the placeholder with the actual Page number.
Page 636, Nt 1
the b"Silmarillion"
Change To
the "Silmarillion"
Notes
This removes superfluous 'b' that crept in there somehow. This typo has been fixed in the trade paperback edition.
Page 655 TN23
Page 000
Change To
Page 595
Notes
This slip has been fixed in the trade paperback edition and in the Houghton Mifflin hardcover.
Page 683 TN 2, next to last line
Page 000
Change To
Page 229
Notes
This slip has been fixed in both the trade paperback edition and the Houghton Mifflin hardcover.
Page 692, inset text
"All this material, forming as it does the rough draft for the brief epilogue was cancelled, and replace by . . ."
Change To
"All this material, forming as it does the rough draft for the brief epilogue, was cancelled and replaced by . . ."
Notes
The comma should come after the word 'epilogue', not after 'cancelled'.
Page 705
about two-thirds of the way down: “and finally dying heroically in War of the Rings”
Change To
“and finally dying heroically in the War of the Rings”
Notes
The word 'the' was inadvertently omitted.
page 809
“New Chapter III (see page 810 above)”
Change To
“New Chapter III (see page 803 above)”
Notes
Fifth line from bottom. The page reference is wrong, due to text having shifted in galleys.
page 810
“the New Chapter III fragment, on page 810”
Change To
“the New Chapter III fragment, on page 803”
Notes
Last line. I am grateful to Brendan Moody for this and the two proceeding corrections.
page 833
“4 mm = 4/10 **illegible** = 20 miles”
Change To
“4 mm = 4/10 of 50 miles = 20 miles”
Notes
Last two lines. After further scrutiny, I’ve now been able to read the illegible phrase as a combination of numbers and letters, as indicated. This correction has been incorporated into the trade paperback edition.
page 835, TN 5
“and Book II with him awaking”
Change To
“and Book II begins with him awakening”
Notes
I inadvertently omitted the word ‘begins’. My thanks to 'Johan' for pointing out this oversight. This slip has been rectified in the trade paperback.
page 847
“(the Folk-Lore Society’s not-quite-complete collection of which is now at University College, London)”
Change To
“(the most complete collection of which is a single bound volume of what were once independent leaflets or 'tracts', assembled by one 'W.S.' in 1860, later belonging to the Opies and now part of the Opie Collection in the Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington)”
Notes
I was in error; further investigation reveals that the Folk-Lore Society has few or none of the original ‘tracts’. I suspect this bound volume now in the Opie Collection, assembled the year after Denham's death, to have been the source of the 1892/1895 two-volume published set but lack confirmation on this point. The Lilly Library copy does include both versions of the tract in question, the first (which is however dated in its colophon to 1852, not 1851) one without the word 'hobbit' and the 1853 one that marks the word's first known appearance. I have also since discovered yet another earlier version of Denham's list, predating even the 1848 article, which similarly lacks any mention of hobbits. This appears in A Collection of Proverbs and Popular Sayings related to the seasons, the weather, and agricultural pursuits; gathered chiefly from oral tradition, a seventy-three page booklet by 'M. A. Denham' published by the Percy Society in 1846; the relevant passage comes in a long footnote on page 63

Appendix IV

Due to heavy revision and significant additions by me at the galley stage, several footnotes in this Appendix have superscripts in text but the notes themselves are missing. The following corrections should set things to rights:

Page 872, mid-page
“establishing himself a popular . . .”
Change To
“establishing himself as a popular . . .”
Page 873
“the four color plates”
Change To
in keeping with my use of British spellings, this really should have been “the four colour plates”
Page 873
“Ransome also wrote to Tolkien himself,”
Change To
“Ransome also wrote to Tolkien himself (on 13th December 1937),”
Page 873
last four lines: “Arthur Ransome/—Ransome to JRRT Signalling from Mars;/ The Letters of Arthur Ransome, ed. Hugh Brogan [1997],/ pages 249–250”
Change To
“Arthur Ransome6”
Notes
The passage in brown should be deleted from the text and replaced by a superscript for the Note (Nt 6) to follow at the end of the Appendix.
Page 874
“response in kind on 15th December shows.”
Change To
“response in kind on 15th December shows.7
Notes
Add the superscript for Nt 7.
Page 877
towards the end of the first long paragraph: “the ‘Earliest Annals of Beleriand’ ”
Change To
“the ‘(Earliest) Annals of Beleriand’ ”
Notes
While I do not think I succeeded in being wholly consistent, using parentheses became my preferred method of distinguishing between the 1930 (Earlier) and 1936 (Later) Annals.
Page 877
eleven lines up from bottom: “in pencil.8”
Change To
“in pencil.12”
Notes
This change is required to fix the Note number (to Nt 12), there already being another Note 8 superscript back on page 874.
Page 878, Nt 2
the daggered sub-note shd be indented (cf. the one following Nt 4).
Page 878, Nt 4
“Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Book I [1995]”
Change To
“Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Book I: Northern Lights [1995]”
Notes
Since here I contrast the titles of the American edition and the British that preceded it, it seems better to give the full title of the original.
ADD Nt 6
“6 I have taken the text of this letter from a tengwar transcription Tolkien made [Ad.Ms.H.6]. In addition to being very lightly punctuated, the tengwar copy differs in some details from the text published in Ransome’s collected letters (Signalling from Mars: The Letters of Arthur Ransome, ed. Hugh Brogan [1997], pp. 249–50). For example, Brogan prints ‘excitable hobbit’, ‘no doubt right’, ‘Thorin is surely misinterpreted, and ‘the chronicle’. I am grateful to Arden Smith for his aid in translating Tolkien’s beautiful tengwar calligraphy back into English letters.”
ADD Nt 7
“7 The following text is a composite: the first half of Tolkien’s letter I have taken from another tengwar transcription by Tolkien himself [Ad.Ms.H.7], while the second half comes from Ransome’s collected letters; see Note 10 below. Once again I am grateful to Arden Smith for his timely aid.
Current Nt 6
(“Men rather than children”) is actually Nt 8; cf. page 874.
ADD Nt 9
“9 Here Tolkien accidentally wrote ‘212’ in his tengwar transcription, but the passage in question actually occurs on p. 112 of the first edition; Brogan gives the citation correctly (Signalling from Mars p. 250).
ADD Nt 10
“10 At this point, Tolkien’s tengwar transcription ends, at the bottom of a page [Ad.Ms.H.7], the verso of which [Ad.Ms.H.6] is covered by his transcription of Ransome’s letter to him (see above). If Tolkien continued his transcription, it was on a separate sheet of paper which has since become lost. Accordingly, from this point onwards I take the text from Brogan’s edition of Ransome’s letters, Signalling from Mars pp. 250–251.

As before, the tengwar text differs slightly from that published in Ransome’s collected letters—e.g. ‘could expect’ there becomes ‘could have expected’, ‘so close an acquaintance with’ becomes ‘so close a scrutiny of’, and ‘will go up’ becomes ‘would go up’. More importantly, the transcription includes a passage omitted from the published text (the line ‘You tempt me grievously’ through ‘of such import’), in which Tolkien briefly places ‘the history of the hobbit’ into context with that of ‘the world into which Mr. Baggins strayed’—i.e. that of the Silmarillion texts.”
Current Nt 7
is actually Nt 11; cf. page 875.
Current Nt 8
is actually Nt 12; this also needs to be fixed on page 877 (see above).
Page 879
ADD to end of Nt 12: “I am also grateful to her for reading and critiquing this Appendix.”

Index

The INDEX is both extensive and not entirely satisfactory, but I have not been able to undertake the time-intensive task of creating a new one. In the meantime, I will add here any errata to it that I come across or that is forwarded to me by readers.