The Hobbit
27.3cm x 21.2cm x 4.1cm
SOLD
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step onto the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further or worse places?
- Bilbo Baggins on the path outside his front door
Like hobbits, bookbinders often lack a sense of adventure. We are prone to binding books merely to cover them. But, like Bilbo, the Evilrooster Bindery is sometimes an exception to that rule. This fine-bound edition of Tolkien's classic uses traditional techniques: sewn on raised cords, with a tight back and joints, hand-sewn headbands and a drop-spine box for protection. It's covered in red leather, as Tolkien himself described. But the onlaid panel and hand-designed lettering on the front cover are designed to lead the reader into the book, rather than simply cover it.
The front panel is the view from Bilbo’s round front door, showing the Road leading over hills and through forests to the Long Lake and the Lonely Mountain, with the dragon himself hovering above it. The back panel is that same door, closed, after the adventure is over. The lettering was designed specifically for that edition, and onlaid onto the cover leather.
This book was on display at the Interaction Art Show from August 4 - 8 2005. It was then sold at the convention and signed by both the binder and the illustrator, Alan Lee.
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