A delicious miniature book <3
A treasure, my precious!

Tiny little book ... but wonderful

Cute little book of poems from J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I enjoyed the illustrations more than the poems that most fans of Tolkien know.

After some years looking for it I've finally managed to get a copy to myself. The book is exactly what I expected to be, all the poems and riddles from The Hobbit. Even better, since I didn't know it had some ilustrations made by Tolkien himself. I have to say that the size of the book surprised me, I knew it was going to be thin, but I didn't expect it to be small as well. Anyway, it was a nice surprise since I believe it's cutter this way.

A book that fits in your pocket, maybe even in your wallet. It's that tiny, but it's a gem. I loved the artwork by Tolkien himself. The little poems/riddles were know to me because I've read The Hobbit of course. The one I liked the best is the last one, the ending, of which we all know is not the end at all - it's the beginning.

Roads go ever on and on,
Over rock and under tree
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea:

Over snow by winter sown,
Ans through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon,

Roads go ever on and on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

Would have given this five stars, but this book is TINY - 3" x 3.5" - and thus difficult to read the 6-font italic type and enjoy JRRT's own illustrations. Some of the miniscule illustrations are of scenes from The Hobbit and others are sort of random, but appropos to the poems. Still, it's nice to have all the poems (including the Riddles) in one place and in order.

This was a hidden gem I found among my father’s books...

“Down the swift dark stream you go
Back to lands you once did know!”

These lines perfectly sum up what it felt like to read this delightful book. It isn’t much of a surprise. It is exactly how everyone imagines it, the collection of the riddles and the poems of The Hobbit . What makes it so special though, is that it features a couple of illustrations created by Tolkien himself.
It was probably the unexpected discovery that led my mind to wandering towards the past and, there I was, in middle-earth once again, and it indeed felt like going back to lands I once did know.