The Hobbit is very much in the news at the moment with the planned two film adaptation by director Guillermo del Toro. The book by JRR Tolkien was first published in 1937 and an estimated 100million copies have now been sold worldwide.
George Allen & Unwin were the publishers that agreed to get Tolkien’s work out onto the bookshelves - after Unwin had asked his ten year old son to vet the manuscript. Rayner Unwin recommended that the book be published, saying that it would fascinate children between the ages five to nine.
CBC Radio have broadcast an interview with Rayner Unwin, the ten year old boy who reviewed The Hobbit and later joined the family business. Rayner Unwin was also instrumental in persuading his father to publish The Lord of the Rings - although it was also his idea to turn the book into a trilogy, against Tolkien’s wishes.
Unwin was interviewed by Erika Ritter in 1987. The podcast also visits a hobbit camp in Nova Scotia run by the Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre, with a recording from 2006.
Listen to the interview with Rayner Unwin