The Hobbit

Notes
All impressions are broadly similar and feature Thror’s Map and the Map of Wilderland on the endpapers. Includes four colour illustrations in addition to the eight standard black and white illustrations.

When the Third Edition was issued the impression numbering was continued on from the previous edition, i.e. starting from the 15th Impression not from the 1st. They were not re-numbered until 1968.

There appears to have been an error made when the details of the new edition were recorded. What should have read as:

Fifteenth Impression 1965
Third Edition (Sixteenth Impression) 1966

was actually set down as:

Third Edition (Fifteenth Impression) 1966
Sixteenth Impression 1966

This error was never corrected.

There are seven impressions of the Allen & Unwin Third Edition recorded between 1966 and 1972, but only six of these actually "exist" - see above. While all are similar in most respects there are a few differences.

The impression numbers were:

1st (15th) Impression 1966 - does not exist
2nd (16th) Impression 1966 - the "real" first impression
3rd (17th) Impression 1967
4th Impression 1968 - Impressions re-numbered here
5th Impression 1970 - Two illustrations re-located within text
6th Impression 1971
7th Impression 1972