"A COMPLETE AND HIGHLY IMAGINATIVE TALE OF ECCENTRICITY": FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

TOLKIEN, J.R.R. Mr. Bliss. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. Oblong octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. $350.

First American edition, first printing of a little-known children's book written and illustrated by Tolkien, unpublished during his lifetime.

Mr. Bliss—owner of many very tall hats and caretaker of an even taller Girabbit—undergoes a comic series of trials and tribulations after buying himself a motor-car. "Tolkien aficionados have long heard rumors of still another children's book that Professor Tolkien had written and illustrated for the amusement of his own children, as well as, evidently, for himself. Now, after more than fifty years, it is being made available to the general public for the first time. This facsimile edition reproduces the charming pencil and water-color illustrations and the text hand-lettered by Tolkien himself." The first British edition was published by Allen and Unwin in 1982. Hammond & Anderson A18b.

Book in fine condition, in a near-fine dust jacket with minor sunning to spine and a few tiny spots of dust-soiling.