Background The Hobbit

in 1930s tolkien pursuing academic career @ oxford rawlinson , bosworth professor of anglo-saxon, fellowship @ pembroke college. several of poems had been published in magazines , small collections, including goblin feet , cat , fiddle: nursery rhyme undone , scandalous secret unlocked, reworking of nursery rhyme hey diddle diddle. creative endeavours @ time included letters father christmas children—illustrated manuscripts featured warring gnomes , goblins, , helpful polar bear—alongside creation of elven languages , attendant mythology, had been creating since 1917. these works saw posthumous publication.

in 1955 letter w. h. auden, tolkien recollects began work on hobbit 1 day in 1930s, when marking school certificate papers. found blank page. inspired, wrote words, in hole in ground there lived hobbit. late 1932 had finished story , lent manuscript several friends, including c. s. lewis , student of tolkien s named elaine griffiths. in 1936, when griffiths visited in oxford susan dagnall, staff member of publisher george allen & unwin, reported have either lent dagnall book or suggested borrow tolkien. in event, dagnall impressed it, , showed book stanley unwin, asked 10-year-old son rayner review it. rayner s favourable comments settled allen & unwin s decision publish tolkien s book.