Which publisher first released J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in Britain?

George Allen & Unwin first released J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in Britain.

The London publishing house issued the book on September 21, 1937. Its success was immediate enough that the first printing sold out quickly, helping establish Tolkien as a commercially important author. The firm later published The Lord of the Rings, which became one of the defining literary successes of the twentieth century.

The publisher’s connection with Tolkien began through Stanley Unwin, whose son Rayner reviewed the manuscript favorably as a child. Rayner Unwin later became closely involved with Tolkien’s books and with the publication of the sequel.

This publisher is often confused with Allen & Unwin’s later corporate successors or with American publishers that issued Tolkien editions in the United States. The original British publisher was George Allen & Unwin, not Penguin or Macmillan.