Here’s an auspicious first post for 2010!
There are several audiobook editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The most recent production would be the unabridged version for Recorded Books. It’s narrated by Rob Inglis. Prior to that, there was also an abridged DH Audio (Durkin Hayes) production featuring narrator Martin Shaw. It was released in the 1990s. Tolkien recorded a few segments himself, released through Caedmon records and later Harper Audio. The earliest actual audiobook version is also very highly regarded. That’s this one, narrated by Nicol Williamson. It never saw North American distribution. Williamson is going to be familiar to fans of John Boorman’s masterpiece Excalibur (he played Merlin).
The Hobbit
By J.R.R. Tolkien; Read by Nicol Williamson
Four 33 1/3 LPs – Approx. 3.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Conifer Records / Argo Productions
Published: 1973, 1974
Includes a 7 page booklet. The reading Includes some musical additions.
This is all apropos of some dude uploading it to Youtube (of all places).
Here is Part 1
The rest of the recording is available on a Nicol Williamson fansite |HERE| and |HERE|. For those more inclined to listen to their audio away from their computers, the entire audiobook (in two zipped downloads) is available in the MP3 format |HERE|.
[via The Silver Key, The Cimmerian and If I Only Had blogs]
Posted by Jesse Willis
Do you have any idea if collectors might be looking for the original 1974 of THE HOBBIT read by Nicol Williamson? I have the set.
Just a small correction: the album was in fact distributed in North America. I bought a copy from a local record store in the United States back in 1975. I also saw it on sale in Canada.